Problems with Dragonfly Tattoo Machine

[Mr.Taboo]

Thank you all for the info in this thread.

I got my Dragonfly the other day and was waiting for a regular to come in to try it on ( didn't want to try it on a walk in in case I had problems with my first try with it ).
One of my clients with a ongoing sleeve piece came in and was game for me to try out my new machine.
Started off black shading and using a 50/50 wash and was loving life.
Next , time for some color dipped in some dark blue ( PermaPro/Unique ) and noticed in a few secs that I had ink creepin' up the bar .
I had skimmed this thread along with a few others while waiting for my Dragonfly to show up. And remembered a few things from it.
Unbagged machine , checked bar tensioner didn't seem too tight ( Turned till it made contact with bar and then a little less than a quarter turn more to snug it down a bit ).
Also added a little distilled water to the ink and even got a new needle and tube and still no good. Well I had work to do so I got out one of my coil machines to finish the session.
Tomorrow is my day off and if the missus "Honey do" list ain't too bad I'm gonna head over to the shop and try out some of the things in this thread to see if I can get a handle on things.

[nathan bauer]

This happened to me with my crank style swiss like cheapo.I trim the riser off of a needle bar nipple,so it was just as high as the thickness of the rubber foot. then i put a reg nupple on above it. With raising the back end of the needle bar just a smidge,i didnt have to put much of a bend on my needles at all,and it killed the ink travelling up the tube problem. Dont know if it would work on a dragonfly,but it might be worht a shot.

[Alie K]

Thank you all for the info in this thread.

I got my Dragonfly the other day and was waiting for a regular to come in to try it on ( didn't want to try it on a walk in in case I had problems with my first try with it ).
One of my clients with a ongoing sleeve piece came in and was game for me to try out my new machine.
Started off black shading and using a 50/50 wash and was loving life.
Next , time for some color dipped in some dark blue ( PermaPro/Unique ) and noticed in a few secs that I had ink creepin' up the bar .
I had skimmed this thread along with a few others while waiting for my Dragonfly to show up. And remembered a few things from it.
Unbagged machine , checked bar tensioner didn't seem too tight ( Turned till it made contact with bar and then a little less than a quarter turn more to snug it down a bit ).
Also added a little distilled water to the ink and even got a new needle and tube and still no good. Well I had work to do so I got out one of my coil machines to finish the session.
Tomorrow is my day off and if the missus "Honey do" list ain't too bad I'm gonna head over to the shop and try out some of the things in this thread to see if I can get a handle on things.

How much do you bend your needlebar? Maybe there is too much bend on it?