Digital power supply got me scratching my head
This is my first post so let me do a quick intro.
25 years ago I apprenticed at a little shop in Minnesota. It was a short lived apprenticeship and my mentor quickly got me tattooing before he dumped a bunch of gear on me one weekend and told me to familiarize myself with it. He then left town with his wife without really telling anyone what was going on. I tattooed for a while on my own before having to close shop due to funds.
I've been back and forth over the years and have finally settled down for the last two (bad marriage and divorce, finances, etc. kept me from being steady).
So having to kind of go at it my own, I learned the equipment and even prided myself on being able to build my own machines.
I recently purchased a Critical power supply and now I'm scratching my head.
I've always used my ear to tune a machine. Now this digital is telling me things I hadn't grasped before. I've got two machines that are running high duty cycles. One I built and a Mike Hill that I "fixed up". I've got the speed I'm comfortable with but the duty cycles are at like 68-74% ! Three in the shop and now all have Critical power supplies. Two use rotaries exclusively so they are no help and the other young fellow uses coil machines but he doesn't really grasp tuning a machine (but of course his are all running fine).
I've tried changing springs and adjusting tension, changed a bars. No matter what I do, I can get it to run at the speed I like (138hz + -) but the duty cycles are always high. I've asked elsewhere and responses I get are "The hardest thing about using a digital power supply is ignoring those numbers".
Wow, why would you do that? It's telling you something. Duty cycles are telling you the on / off time.....yes? So if it's properly tuned it should be around 50% give or take.
Some don't want to answer at all. High on their throne as if they are giving out trade secrets or something. Really? Don't want to give a fellow artist with the same passion for tattoos some simple advise? I'm not trying to steal your customers.
So if someone has any advise I would greatly appreciate it.
|