Direct drive what is it good for ?

**tattood** · 01-29-2013, 11:58 PM

My question is what are the advantages of a direct drive. I assume its like any thing else and its all a personal preference. And i wont no until i try. Im got a nicks rotary and love it now im gettin a direct drive from him. Im jus curios if the have any thing they excel at more that a standard nicks rotary. Also is there a danger of over working the skin faster..

**vodu** · 01-30-2013, 01:39 AM

Well, first of all, one thing you should know about rotaries, is, they can punch harder, without a sound of, so it's better watch your hand when you are working... But nothing hard to learn...

Enviado de meu GT-I9100 usando o Tapatalk 2

**reigningink** · 01-30-2013, 04:22 AM

In my experience, the length of the through on a direct drive can change how it puts ink in the skin. A short throw seems to "hit" softer, as in it has less time to gain speed on the down swing. So it is great for black and grey and color blending. It will still have the same amount of pressure as any other stroke, but because of its lack of inertia, its ability to puncture the skin is decreased a bit. Medium stroke 3-3.5mm is good all around, and has more ability to puncture the skin thanks to the increased throw. Also, the longer throw allows the needles to retract further into the tube which can help the needles carry more ink to the skin, this aids in allowing capillary action to fill all the holes you make with ink. 4mm and up seems to just give more puncture power and ink carry to the needle groupings, which is why the longer throws are recommended if you are planning to use larger groupings. With direct drives, you can create "give" using the skins natural elasticity. A harder stretch and tauter skin will have less give, and the needles will penetrate quickly and deeply. Some people prefer a machine with built in give when dealing with skin that is naturally tight since their ability to adjust how hard they stretch it will be diminished. All in all direct drives are great, they do take some understanding to use correctly, and it takes a confident tattoo artist to use the correctly. To answer you, they are good for about every style out there, just be sure to learn the proper techniques involved in each. Hope this helps. These are only my opinions, take them or leave them.

**Mozzer337** · 01-30-2013, 06:06 AM

I use mine for packing and whip shading. The stroke is a bit too long for black and grey imo. I find 9 mags are perfect for this machine. Its a Kubin mini DD btw.

**jcecil** · 01-30-2013, 11:50 AM

As Mozzer said great machines for packing and whip shading I've got 3 DD that I use almost daily. I even like lining anywhere from a 3-7 anything larger and it's my Nicks or Kubin. You can even use the DD for the T-Tech system and its more affordable than the Cheyenne machines.