Cartridge grips expensive?

Can somebody explain to me how is it possible that some cartridge grips are costing us half the price of a decent rotary machine, were are we going with this???

I am not an expert in manufacturing or what not but have been tattooing for a good part of my life and would like some reasonable answers from builders please to help me understand.

I don't want to buy cheap shit from Asia but come on guys, is this getting out of hand just a little bit?

p.s. this is not a rant or bitching contest so HATERS steer clear, I am hoping for honest and professional answers here only please, thanks for your time.

The reason I steer clear of these. Not at all worth the price. The stainless cart grips from tech are as good as anything I have seen.

I would love to know what the profit margin is on a $150 grip. It's just business though in my opinion. The grip that FK Irons makes, I mean who is their competition right now for adjustable cartridge grips? I know the Chinese companies make adjustable cartridge grips that are junk. Swashdrive make a nice adjustable grip which has been my favorite by far but seem to be out of stock a lot. Who else really makes them that they need to compete price-wise with?

For standard carts T Tech grips are just fine and fair in price.

I don't think its a profit margin or getting out of control issue, its more of a price that equals how much use you will get from the product. If you use disposable tubes you pay roughly $1 to possibly $5 a tube, you get 20 - 25 tubes in a box. So lets say we paid $1 for our disposable tubes and i get 25 in a box and i have 6 boxes and we also bought a $150 dollar adjustable aluminum or stainless tube. I set them both on the table and ask myself which of the tubes will earn the most return for my investment. I can do 150 tattoos with the disposable ones and then i have to spend more money, Or i can spend 150 now on a stainless adjustable one and probably not have to spend money on tubes for at least 500-1000 tattoos "depending on personal care" except for cleaning supplies and wraps. The builder takes into consideration the life and amount of use one item is and gives it a value from that information. To be honest those adjustable grips can cost a lot to make. Disposables are made from injection molds obviously which is a hefty one time fee to make the mold then its cost pennies to pump out millions. These aluminum and stainless tubes are machined one at a time and then assembled and packaged by hand.... Not robots. When you see something that seems expensive ask yourself how long of a life does it have in your hands and is it profitable to your work ethics. You should be able to walk away with confidence in which ever your purchase may have been... Not to mention most shops are a $100 minimum, so your basically looking at no more then two names and that tube is paid for... $150.00 dollars is nothing when you look at the long term margins. Disposable tubes only exist for convenience not performance. I see metal clamps and jigs in the photography world go for $1000's and its just a piece of fucking metal that's been machined to perfection, so lets be grateful lol.

I know Gaston from FK Irons, we have talked a lot on the phone way back when the coils were still A LA MODE and I bought 3 from him back then, he is a stand up guy and super pro, I am not bitching his prices just that here in Canada they are 225$ plus tax and plus shipping so...

I wanted to try the T-Techs for a long time, I wish they had a click system to though... I have to buy from Eikon if I want Gaston's grip and they never have stock or colors that I want, if I am going to pay 275$ for one grip, I better get the friggi'n color I want...

By the way, can you just wrap these grips and than Medicide or Cydex them? They do not touch the client so I'm guessing...


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Ive got a fk grip and run cheyenne on my flite v2. The reason i got a fk grip was the fact you can pull it apart and clave it.. my old cheyenne grips you cant do that to. So i got one to see what it was like over the cheyenne and with a little of adjustment to get it sitting right, i must say fk is far better than the cheyenne. Plus you can get spares if things bust with the cheyenne goes wrong its a new grip. The fk dosent move with the weight of the machine not like the cheyenne does sometines. In the uk the grip is £128.40 + £20 if you need it to fit to a cheyenne thread on your machine..

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cheyenne have change the plunger size now and now only new cheyenne grips fit on it - a new trick to lose clients. After this a lot new thunders are in trade sale sites again ! thats a very bad think from cheyenne.

This is what happens when you try to play god. They will have to lower their prices and adjust their market to keep playing...