La Santamaria by HM Machines.

[Bishopbyname]

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Right then guys and gals i'd like to start this review by stating that Roman of HM Machines has THE best customer service i have ever come across in this industry! I placed my order and within a few days i received a phone call from him (which in itself was very unexpected) telling me he'd done a small run of 5 "naked" La Santamarias and would i be interested in 1! You bet your ass i was interested! He then asked me what my t-shirt size was so he could send me 1. This was at 4pm, he then said he was about to send the machine and that i should expect it the next day! Not only was he very easy to deal with but he was right about the delivery too, the next day at 10am i received my parcel! From Spain to the UK in less than 18 hours! That's pretty incredible!

The machine came in a nice HM Machine box, was snuggly fitted in cut foam and came with a small tube of superlube and all the relevant info on how best to run the machine. Oh and a swanky free t-shirt. At this point i was grinning from ear to ear and hadn't even switched the machine on yet!

So how does it work? Pretty bloody well to be fair! It's virtually silent at 6v and the linear action is perfect. I love the tube vice and the polished coin screw is a nice added extra. The machine is on the weighty side probably similar to a vivace, maybe slightly lighter, but the balance reduces the weight beautifully. In fact that's not where the Vivace similarities end. It runs in a very similar fashion, the strong silent type and has a return spring so the needle always stops inside the tip. I used it for 4 hours earlier and although it did get a little warm it performed very well. I didn't use all of the available stroke, i backed the 9mg up a bit like i do with all of my machines. Very subtle dusty transistions were a joy to do and i'm looking forward to exploring this gorgeous thing more in the next few days!

Congrats Roman for your service and your machine building skills.

[tatu richie]

thats actually the la pinta if im correct, i just got mine today i red... the la pinta has the give screw on top... the la nina and la santa maria doesnt have the give screw if im wrong then apologies

[Baldrick]

100% agree with everything on the customer service from Roman - my mini Evo arrived from Spain to the Uk - from time of order to delivery in less than 24 hours.

Thats the short stroke shader isn't it?

I have the other 2 versions arriving next week - but really glad to hear that it's a good machine too.

[Bishopbyname]

thats actually the la pinta if im correct, i just got mine today i red... the la pinta has the give screw on top... the la nina and la santa maria doesnt have the give screw if im wrong then apologies

Yes the La Pinta does have the give screw, this machine does not. It looks like it does in the pic but it's just the shadow from the foam that has the cut to accomodate the machines with the give screw. The La Pinta is the next machine on my shopping list.

[tatu richie]

Yes the La Pinta does have the give screw, this machine does not. It looks like it does in the pic but it's just the shadow from the foam that has the cut to accomodate the machines with the give screw. The La Pinta is the next machine on my shopping list.

gotcha, i couldnt really tell... let us know how it runs for u

[Roman HM tattoomachines]

Thank you russel for the complimemts!!
Un Glad you enjoy your machine! The differences from the Sta. María and the pinta , besides That the pinta is ajustable , is the stroke lenght & the motor, the Sta. María has a faster motor!
Thanks everybody !! Roman
I personally recomend( and designed the Sta. María) for black&grey work!!

[Tat2dPinoy]

Kingpin finally got the HM's Roman! I've been patiently waiting for them in the U.S.

[Roman HM tattoomachines]

Hello , yes Kingpin has them already! They have stock of all of them in black,blue,red. Both in clipcord or rca!
Except for the mini evolutions which they should have them back in stock un about 2 weeks Max!
Also the hm evolutions they have is the new versión, different excenter, stronger bearing, new shaft, new abar, and Now the frame has machined between the springshelf and the sping a housing for the -wire from the motor( no more conection problems, meaning machine posible speeding up and down)Now has the 2 wires to conectors!
Ah and have a nice and polish finish and annodize, and hardware and abar nickel plated.
Thanks! Roman
Pd i have 2 "naked" frames left!

[Bishopbyname]

After using this machine for the last 2 weeks i can honestly say along with my Mini Cranker this is my favourite machine! Shading is effortless at 6v, building up layers and doing the softest of greys is a pleasure. I've also used this machine for packing colour and blending and it performs equally well which was a nice surprise! I know a lot of a tattoo's success is down to the skill of the artist but machines like this do contribute to the end result. I'm going to be selling some of my other machines in order to buy more from Roman in the near future!

[tugg]

so what is the stroke on this machine .?