This is the fifth of my 'Lockdown Projects' - Projects made during the Coronavirus lockdown, which I limited to one week, and only using materials I had to hand.
Before I start this write up I just want to emphasize this tattoo gun
is not intended for use on anything other than leather. Using it for
anything else risks a number of heath issues.
With that out of the
way, I’ve been intrigued by the idea of using tattooing as a way of
patterning leather. A quick search shows that it’s not an uncommon
practice – particularly it would seem, for leather boots.
The theory goes that
given that leather is essentially just skin, it would tattoo in the
similar way to a person.
After seeing a
home-made tattoo gun in an episode of Orange is the New Black years
ago, I’ve had the idea in the back of my head to build one and try
it.
During lockdown, it
seemed like a thematic fit to finally hack one together.
The body of the
machine is from a mechanical pencil.
The main needle
mechanism is a sewing needle, with an empty metal pen refill, and a hook made
of a bent paperclip. These bits are epoxied together for sturdiness.
The motor was taken
from a handheld fan. A button provided the connection between the
needle mechanism and the motor.
The bracket was a
small bit of metal from the junk bin - that was probably once part of
a printer or something similar I’d previously dismantled.
The motor and
bracket were fixed together with cable ties and a final cable tie
tensions the mechanism so that there’s less rattle and wobble in the
needle.
Initially I used
2xAA batteries for a power supply, but after a bit of testing, it
needed more power, so I replaced that with a USB connector.
Obviously I didn’t
have any tattoo ink to hand, so I just used leather dye to test.
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