Attachment 10603
It comes in a Primus branded tin, with a quick start guide and a hand numbered, signed, dated, card stating when it was tested and built. The machine is also hand engraved with a date and machine number.
Ok, so I have been using the Primus for a little while now. I have to say first, it is the most well constructed machine I have ever used. Ever. There is virtually zero play in any of the parts, the tolerances are extremely close.
I have the "old brass" model in RCA, though it comes in "black brass" and/or clipcord as well. It should retail for around 400 euro.
The Primus is a little on the heavy side (but feels more solid than weighty if that makes sense) I think it is similar in weight to a DK mini cranker. It has a Faulhaber motor which is connected to a two piece crank allowing more straight up and down movement. The two piece crank is similar to the Bazooka, however, Sunskin has connected the two pieces with a bearing, which eliminates any play between the two parts and makes the movement seamless.
The crank is connected to the armature bar via a metal "wheel" with hard rubber (I do not know the exact material used) "spokes" (this is sort of the symbol sunskin uses for the machine). This piece allows for some give. The armature bar is, of course, connected to the machine frame via a short heavy gauge spring.
The Primus feels like it hits very hard, until you start to tattoo with it, then it has a surprisingly consistant give. It has the power to push probably any needle configuration you care to pair it with. Nothing I used it with slowed it down at all.
Lining- I used 3, 5, 9liners and 7 round shaders to line with it. The stroke is slightly shorter than I like, i didn't measure it but I put it right around 3.5mm. It lines smooth and fast, and while it is a bit heavy (which is nice for larger liners) it is so consistent, using a smaller liner like a three is a breeze as well.
Shading- 7 mags, 9mag bugpins, and 15 mags. The little bit of give makes it a competent shader, but it doesnt hit as soft as a dragonfly or the like can. If you pack grey wash rather than building up a tone with black, this is not an issue. Building up a darker tone takes a bit of getting used to (for me I think this is because i usually used direct drive or a lot of give, not something with a fixed slight give).
Color- same mags. Packs color like a champ. Nothing slows it down, I was able to work rather quickly and get nice solid tones in one pass.
There is one thing about this machine I don't like: The needle bar tensioner. It is well made for sure, but it was too short to use with any of my disposable tubes (I tried 3 different brands including tatsoul wrath tubes). If i pushed the tube down to a point where the tensioner would work, the needle barely came out of the tube. Using rubber bands was not an issue for me, and the positives of this machine FAR outweigh, what I consider to be, this slight inconvenience.
In short, should you own one of these? F YES. This is a pretty amazing little bit of engineering. It can do anything. The weight could be an issue for some (probably less so for those who use metal tubes) and the needlebar tensioner needs to be redesigned. Overall, despite the tensioner, i would still give it a 10.
After using this machine I really hope Sunskin sees some success with it and produces some other rotaries (a nice direct drive would be sweet).
If I didn't mention something you would like to know about, or was unclear about anything, or can answer any questions about the machine, please let me know.
cheers
