Has anybody used the new stigma's yet?

**petersaucepan** · 03-22-2013, 11:30 AM

Beast by name and nature..... fucking love it! Lines like knife through butter at 9.5 volts...... I was worried about the needle system but hell it works a treat. Will be buying another very soon!

**crabink** · 03-22-2013, 09:35 PM

Well so far my RW I.D. seems to perform color packing and lining a lot better than my Prodigy... I guess I like no give a lot better.. But honestly lately I have been re-tuning my coils, reducing the strokes and dialing them in to run a little faster, paying attention to the working stroke length (the actual stroke lengths while in the skin) and have had some incredible results.... I think i am gonna stick to coils and sell the Prodigy... So far color and black and grey were not very smooth and i wasn't impressed.. Each time I ran the Prodigy for color I went back to my coils. I guess being that I know how to build coil machines and get a machine to do what i want maybe it's this knowledge that makes them work better for me... I often wonder how many rotary users are expert coil builders and wonder if they are pigeon-holing themselves into rotaries because they are simplistic and almost maintenance free and were never taught how to tune and build coil machines. Also you don't have to know anything about how to build a rotary to run them. Just have to learn needle depths and pressure and hand technique along with trial and error. Would be an interesting poll to see how many rotary users actually know how to build a coil machine from scratch and set one up from coil cores to rear spring tension and everything in between. I am not talking about changing and replacing an identical spring on a machine either.. That's not building, that's regurgitation.

I guess in conclusion I wanted to believe that rotary technology had surpassed and improved upon the coil technology, but it hasn't.. it's just merely something different, with working pros and cons just like coils. Realizing this makes me want to try the new centri.. that is a technology that actually emulates real coil tattooing, but with the centrifugal breaking system that i love. I guess I will wait and see.

I will however try some more rotaries but they will all be direct drive... I am thinking the HM adjustable... Seems like more bang for the buck since DD are all about stroke length.

**serial1313** · 03-22-2013, 09:46 PM

Originally Posted by crabink

Well so far my RW I.D. seems to perform color packing and lining a lot better than my Prodigy... I guess I like no give a lot better.. But honestly lately I have been re-tuning my coils, reducing the strokes and dialing them in to run a little faster, paying attention to the working stroke length (the actual stroke lengths while in the skin) and have had some incredible results.... I think i am gonna stick to coils and sell the Prodigy... So far color and black and grey were not very smooth and i wasn't impressed.. Each time I ran the Prodigy for color I went back to my coils. I guess being that I know how to build coil machines and get a machine to do what i want maybe it's this knowledge that makes them work better for me... I often wonder how many rotary users are expert coil builders and wonder if they are pigeon-holing themselves into rotaries because they are simplistic and almost maintenance free and were never taught how to tune and build coil machines. Also you don't have to know anything about how to build a rotary to run them. Just have to learn needle depths and pressure and hand technique along with trial and error. Would be an interesting poll to see how many rotary users actually know how to build a coil machine from scratch and set one up from coil cores to rear spring tension and everything in between. I am not talking about changing and replacing an identical spring on a machine either.. That's not building, that's regurgitation.

I guess in conclusion I wanted to believe that rotary technology had surpassed and improved upon the coil technology, but it hasn't.. it's just merely something different, with working pros and cons just like coils. Realizing this makes me want to try the new centri.. that is a technology that actually emulates real coil tattooing, but with the centrifugal breaking system that i love. I guess I will wait and see.

& just think, your ID cost you well under $300.

**slicksteel** · 03-23-2013, 02:00 AM

I think crabink most people really don't care about tuning a machine any more-they would rather have a quiet session,faster heals,lighter and less vibrating machines that lowers wrist pain etc. People want to focus on the art more then being a mechanic and as such there has being amazing art leaps done with rotaries as people focus on tecniques. .
I love coils to and can build and tune them also. And love them for line work and old school whips but you cant beat a linear slide or dd for colorpacking or black or grey.
So I see them as tools and nothing more.But it does look like you are rethinking how you tune your coils to more of a j .carlton type set up and that all came about after using rotaries.

**crabink** · 03-23-2013, 04:14 AM

Yeah... lately I been just walkin through piece after piece.. One pass, blending, black ant grey, new school color bombs. I'm loving it.. I gave my apprentice three machines and narrowed down my top shelf coils to 2 pikes a ciferri mini bull dog and a Cory Rodgers. Tuned em up and I am super happy.

However... I think I want to find a long stroke liner/DDcolor
i love the I.D. For lining and wonder if maybe a hm adj would be a good fit.

Prodigy was a real disappointment for me.. Definitely didn't outperform my coils. I'll still give it a go here and there.

**Jan Li** · 03-23-2013, 12:45 PM

For me nothing beats a Spaulding and rodgers supreme for lining and shading just nickel and dime difference with the toaster box power supply!!!!!! you dont need more.

**hendricksonart.com** · 03-23-2013, 01:26 PM

Originally Posted by slicksteel

I think crabink most people really don't care about tuning a machine any more-they would rather have a quiet session,faster heals,lighter and less vibrating machines that lowers wrist pain etc. People want to focus on the art more then being a mechanic and as such there has being amazing art leaps done with rotaries as people focus on tecniques. .
I love coils to and can build and tune them also. And love them for line work and old school whips but you cant beat a linear slide or dd for colorpacking or black or grey.
So I see them as tools and nothing more.But it does look like you are rethinking how you tune your coils to more of a j .carlton type set up and that all came about after using rotaries.

To this day the most saturated tattoos I have ever seen have been done with coils, I do not see that changing rotary's work well and have advantages but coils have some definite unmatched advantages. Tuning is so easy If you understand your machines well. I am not sure how they ever become such a big hassle. I spend about five mins a day making sure my machines are running where they should be and my machines never go out of tune unless a spring breaks.