diablo rotary

[cagelavey]

no disrespect to any builder of these machines, but i'd say all of these machines share similar design

[tattood]

no disrespect to any builder of these machines, but i'd say all of these machines share similar design

Exactly man, there is only so many ways to make a rotary tattoo machine...lol

[slicksteel]

I would say the originator of all these would have to be Dragonfly-they did not copy protect anything and threw there drawings on the web-which of course everybody uses it as a blueprint to success.
Of course DF did not event screws,cranks bearings etc etc. They used ideas cobbled from other industries to build a superior tattoo machine that had never been built. The mother of all invention is to utilise what has come before and improve and reinvent it.

[reigningink]

A note on the pictures above: I have owned every single one of those. And to be honest the differences in design and execution are quite large. The nedz actually uses a spring to drive the armature downward not the force of the piston. The fly is a slide type system, with the excenter that stays with the motor. To be honest, yes the Diablo and the dragonfly are very similar. So what? 90% of rotary tattoo machines are basically the same. Its that 10% of refinement, research, and development that make each machine its own. Pointing fingers here and there because two machines use similar tech to achieve their goal is pointless. We live in a free market country where constantly building and improving current systems and technology allow the most advanced and refined creations to succeed and those that do not evolve to fail. I will never be OK with direct knockoffs, ever. But utilizing basic systems to make a new creation, even if somewhat similar, is the way progress works. Also, the Diablo and dragonfly are in two very different price points. A Kia is not a Lexus clone, they are both automobiles by two different manufacturers who cater to different markets. .... OK I'm done, end rant.

[darkness]

yes many machines looks similar but dont work similar and the most have only a very little change or difference... like the martini davinci or the primus too ...
for me the best knnock-off is the (sorry for all stigma fans) Stigma Prodigy and the beast . The complet beast system is design from the german evolution - but he work better on the german evolution as the sttigma and the prodigy is a child of dragonfly ,halo or the hyper ....yes cool - a better swashdrive ??

And we all buy this because stigma is a renowned company , and my experience with stigma is - they also copy still poorly. I think the Halo or the Dragonfly is the better choice as the prodigy ...and the gen8 or every other gen7 ,gen6 better as the hyper ...and yes i love the german evolution more as the beast and the best all are cheaper than the stigma knock-offs

Thats are my 2 centsto the theme

i now never ever buy a stigma - have sell all and buy the originals and happy with it ...the only what i would buy is "my own" halo .

[cagelavey]

that's my point, machines can be similar in design, but one or two things can be different, or the same but just improved. that doesn't make it a Chinese knock off. if you get on with the machine you use and its not a carbon copy and complete rip off of another builders work, then there shouldn't be an issue. all 2 coil machines use the same exact concept, yet all do not run the same. however you don't get the distinction of whether it is a copy of Edison's design, lol. or call that machine a Chinese knock off because the components are the same. maybe cause the rotary "revolution" is so new in its conception the distinction is easier for people to make, I don't know. if it is built well that's all that matters.

[ckjr]

I would say the originator of all these would have to be Dragonfly-they did not copy protect anything and threw there drawings on the web-which of course everybody uses it as a blueprint to success.
Of course DF did not event screws,cranks bearings etc etc. They used ideas cobbled from other industries to build a superior tattoo machine that had never been built. The mother of all invention is to utilise what has come before and improve and reinvent it.

I thought the bizarre v1 came out before the DF..... I could be wrong I just remember seeing stigma's before inkmachine's, but then again back then I only paid attention to stigma

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2

[slicksteel]

I think your right on that one ckjr-stigma has been around for a while and have a lot of machines that are not made anymore. On this I was referring to the whole front end.

[fkirons]

The Bizarre 1 was the first machine I've seen with crank system. It also had give adjustment.
Dragonfly fallowed several years after with a streamlined the design based on the Bizarre mechanism and added the tensioner.

I have a Bizarre from when it first came out.

[OwlsDen]

The Bizarre 1 was the first machine I've seen with crank system. It also had give adjustment.
Dragonfly fallowed several years after with a streamlined the design based on the Bizarre mechanism and added the tensioner.

I have a Bizarre from when it first came out.

If you ever want to part with that Bizarre, I don't know as I have anything you would want but I have always wanted one. I saw an Anil Gupta video a few years ago and he was doing a single needle portrait with one, I just knew that I needed to have one.

As for the crank, the Swiss has had a crank system but with an A-bar since 1998. Although a lot of other machines predate that even. I will say the Bizarre combined the crank and the slide and may be the first to do that.

Stigma did have some earlier machines that used a cut needle bar and set screw ( like a primitive beast ) and a very Swiss type machine as well. Both before the Bizarre. I believe they had names like Zodiac and Omega, but my memory isn't what it used to be.

The very first mass produced mechanism of the slide and crank is most likely a steam engine. Although that was all in reverse. Taking linear motion and turning it in to circular motion.