Quote Originally Posted by inkinwi View Post
The bishop and impact are blatant copies of Rays neotat, and the valour is basically the same damn thing as well with a needlerunner and magnets instead of a mechanical stay up spring... it happens. It sucks for the originator of the design, but it happens. The only rotaries out there currently that dont steal elements from the others are the Neotats, Cheyennes, Sidewinders from what I've read, and Centris. All the others out there are redesigned versions of the others.
TIME TO SET THE RECORD STRAIGHT...Many rotary users don't quite know the history of the rotary machines including the linear models such as my Bishop, Neo-tat or even the Spektra Halo or any that has a linear slide powered by a rotating offset cam and bearing. I have been using rotary machines since 1996 and have tried out a few of the earlier ones such as the first swash drive, the Mei-Cha and my favorite at the time the REVOLUTION 1 rotary machine that WAS THE FIRST LINEAR MACHINE invented and that I ever used. I tattooed with this machine from 1996 till about 2000. This was the inspiration for my Bishop machines because the REVOLUTION was the FIRST rotary machine to use the linear slide and offset cam/bearing for movement and thats what I found to be so precise, but I didnt find other parts of thr machine to be of practical use. This is where Neo-tat got its idea from but designed a different frame and needle clip. The needle clip was also Huck Spauldings design but it was a bit difficult to use and you had to use their needles. Here is an original quote they have used on their booklets and site since 1995...

"The Revolution does not require rubber bands to hold the needle bar in place as with coil type machines. One machine is all that is required for doing outline and color work, no adjustments to make except for changing needle bar and tube. The Revolution II comes with any one of the listed tube and needle bar combinations (your choice). Patent #8,470,068
"

So to say my machine is a Neo-tat copy is to say that Neo-tat was the first, when I'm sure they got their linear drive idea from REVOLUTION or by some dumb luck they just happened to invent an already used drive system prototyped by Spaulding as early as 1993, but either way, REVOLUTION was first LINEAR driven machine and thats not even a debate, its history. I've spoke to Ray before and we have no problems with each other and theres a mutual respect because we both understand the history. I see people misinformed and want people to know the history of these machines and anyone here on the forums that have been tattooing for over 15-20 years I'm sure know about the REVOLUTION which until now, no one gives its due credit. (I know these facts because Im a serious rotary nerd and have been for over 20 years)

I started making my machines in 2008 way before it was popular and there were only a small handfull of rotary companies (maybe 5 in total) and none were highly successful due to the low demand for them at the time. Fast forward to 2011 when the rotary craze really began, we witnessed more than 100 new rotary companies surface out of nowhere ONLY because they saw the demand was strong for the market. I will always have respect for companies like Huck Spaulding, Swash Drive and Neo-Tat only because they truly started making rotary machines for all the reasons except money, because there wasn't much back then. I believe it was because like me, they believed it was a much better type of machine compared to coils. When I started making machines, Shit, I lost money for the first 3 years in design costs, prototyping and material, I almost pulled the plug many times because as many builders know, ITS NOT EASY getting started and a VERY expensive project.

I would love to hear anyones feedback and I am not being critical of any company in particular, I just want people to make educated decisions based on real history when forming opinions as to who did what or who copied who. The truth is, there are only a few ways to make a coil machine, and frame designs are about the only way to distinguish who's who. Same for rotary machines, theres either Direct Drive, Linear movement, Swash plate movement. Those 3 movements can be diced up many different ways, and given each owns different frames so as for Direct copies like Lauro paulini who blatantly copied my frame, or the chinese who do the same, I feel thats the part that is WAY WRONG, but I get so tired of people claiming who was first when its all relative on so many levels and people are so misinformed. So for now, lets keep pushing the envelope on what we can REALLy call our own, like My buddy Gastons (FkIrons) hex bolt movement on his direct drive, or John Clarks Magnetic rotary, as for everything else, Its owned by no one. Ive seen many of the popular rotary machines and I noticed something that maybe only a builder may see, and its that each machine seems to have "Borrowed" at least ONE or more things from another company and Id pay someone BIG MONEY to show me a rotary machine that is 100% all their OWN except for again, John Clarks magnetic driven rotary. (Im sure we all agree hes just a true inventor hands down)

Hope this info was helpfull, now Lets hear some commentary...