Spektra Halo feedback thread

[fkirons]

Stainless for use guys that use steel tubes and like weight ,which would help with long stroke machines-which a lot of coil users use.Plus it would meet all health standards of sterilization in all lands.I feel that is the downfall of all rotary makers they feel that they have to make everything light as a feather. I feel if they did both a lighter and heavier model they will get more sells and please more artists. The brass storm is selling great to coil users as it has that weight of a coil machine. I find when a machine is to light i have to actually do more work which causes more cramps and more vibrations.I think you are going to see alot of carpel in a just a few years from the superlight machine users as the cause of this is not weight. It is repetitive motions and vibrations.Just look at any very lite rotary users posted videos and you will see that they have to constantly push the needle in as compared to a coil. A coil can also cause carpel but takes many years to do so because the machines do the work and they have some weight/density to absorb vibrations. Can you imagine a Halo in SS!? from reviews it gets ink in the skin great with its weighted slide and if you had a heavier front frame with the aluminum back motor mount it would be truly the crossover machine that would define everything as you would be able to do any size stroke and let the machine due the work due not having to constantly push the needle in or felling vibrations.
Look at the testing ray did with the original neo tat it had a lot of meat to its frame so it caused minimal vibrations.That is why that machine sells well and is still a favorite of coil/rotary users all over the world.

Yeah I def like a bit of weight when i'm lining. I personally don't have trouble lining with disposable but I prefer SS over plastic for lining. Yesterday I lined and color a piece with Stainless 1" with 4mm stroke Halo and I must say that weight will always be a plus on any machine when lining. An example is when you use disposable with coils, most people can run mag tubes with no problem but when it comes to lining heavy tube is always a plus. Of course, unless you master your technique lining with disposable.

PS: Stainless steel machine.... Notes taken

[fkirons]

Spektra arrived today (3.6mm)!...got to use it for 2 small tattoos. This thing is awesome, I was comfortable with it right out of the gate. Can't wait to do larger pieces with it so I can really appreciate how smooth this machine is.... bang on Gaston.

Enjoy it bro. All machines come broken in so they should perform with no issues out of the box. Shoot me a message if you need help with anything.

[shoutingbombs]

Thanks...nice to see quality and customer service still exists.

[dakine702]

Reading everyones comments make me even more excited lol just ordered a green 3.6 cant wait!

[shoutingbombs]

Gaston, is your inbox full?

[lammy2012]

i now own 2 spektras. great machine and Gaston is a hell of a guy!!!!

[fkirons]

Gaston, is your inbox full?

I think I have replied to you bud. LEt me know or email Kayleigh at [email protected] for customer service!

[PAWNJOB]

I think I’m finally wrapping my mind around this whole weight issue. Weight is good for two reasons: killing vibrations and steadying the hand when lining (inertia). But look, we all want our machines to be as light as possible, so you want to add only as much extra weight as needed to effectively/sufficiently kill vibes and steady your hand.

For the sake of dampening vibrations with a long stroke set-up it would be interesting to set up an experiment to determine an ideal weight for the Halo (which would of course be subjective) and then see if that ideal weight would either increase or decrease depending on placement or distribution of any extra weight from the machine body to the grip. Unless you found that adding weight to the machine body was more efficient in killing vibrations than adding weight to the entire set up (SS tube and Grip) then I don't believe that there's any need for a heavier machine body at all. In fact at that point it would be a down right bad idea. Having a heavy machine dangling high up and off the axis of the tube most certainly does NOT help steady your hand. In fact it works against you, it really isn’t an ideal option. For the sake of stabilization ideally you’d distribute any additional weight right in your hand, in the grip! That way the extra weight is placed along the axis of the tube at it’s lowest point. The lower center of gravity would increase stability translating to much better maneuverability and relieving strain from the wrist.

Once again I think SS tubes and grips are probably the answer, but then we come to those of us who are stuck using disposables because of shop policy or whatever other reason. Well instead of heavier machines what about a line of weighted disposable tubes that are rigid enough and heavy enough to kill excessive vibes. If you did set up such an experiment w/ a heavier machine body and determined that extra weight in the grip alone killed vibes sufficiently then maybe you should scrap the heavy metal machine idea and begin R&D on a new line of disposable tubes Gaston. ;-)

[Sage Oz]

^^^^I've used some disposable grip-less one piece tubes with 1" SS grips, effective setup for this scenario.

[peter clements]

^^^^I've used some disposable grip-less one piece tubes with 1" SS grips, effective setup for this scenario.

That's what I used to do Sage, but Health & Safety started beating the drum about vacuum autoclaves, they say a standard autoclave doesn't sterilise inside the hollow of the grip (load of bollocks). This is a policy no doubt stirred up by the autoclave manufacturers, trying to force us into buying new generic machines, they of course are the ones who profit from this. When I suggested cutting a TST strip into slivers and then inserting it into the hollows of the tube/tip ,and thus prove sterilisation would take place inside the tube, the health inspector just stood there with his mouth open catching flies. However, he would not budge,so now I use disposables. I do miss the weight and vibration absorbtion of a 1" steel grip, especially for machines that have some vibration,the Spektra once you go beyond 8 volts tends to vibrate more as you go up. It is of course a fabulous machine,I lined with it yesterday with one of my favorite steel tubes (good luck iron) it was absolute joy,from the finest lines to thick ones.
So, this heavy disposable tube scenario ,does need to be addressed.