preventing rust.

[untitled_again]

what should i use to finish off a steel frame to prevent it from rusting? what about iron? or brass?

[framey]

brass doesnt rust lol
laquer as a coating works well

[Duger]

Could you use "Gun Bluing" as used on rifles and such?

[sac4life]

as far as i know you can use gun blueing, if you do a search on machine frames you will come across blued frames and that is what it is.

let me know if I'm wrong or if any body else has a option

[ChaChaChaChanges]

does powder blasting frames protect from rust at all?

[sac4life]

do you mean power coating?

[ChaChaChaChanges]

coating. thats the word i was looking for. so same question but with coating instead.

[sac4life]

yes there are machine frames that are powder coated.

[Martin]

bicknee.com has powder coated machines, and a few that are oil dipped as well, however that works.

you could also get the frames chrome dipped.

basically anything that coats the steel to keep it from oxidizing. i suppose some paints would work too as long as they dont chip.

[cramsoup]

I am in the process of building 2 machines, I used Birchwood casey Perma Blue on one and it came great. I dipped it in the solution for about 4 min. Just make sure you clean it real well, It cost me $3.99 for the perma blue from Walmart.
My second frame I'm going to use the Plum Brown (made for antique guns) I'm waiting for the UPS truck to get here so I can get going on it. I'll try to post pics if yuo want to see them!

Cram

[Martin]

I am in the process of building 2 machines, I used Birchwood casey Perma Blue on one and it came great. I dipped it in the solution for about 4 min. Just make sure you clean it real well, It cost me $3.99 for the perma blue from Walmart.
My second frame I'm going to use the Plum Brown (made for antique guns) I'm waiting for the UPS truck to get here so I can get going on it. I'll try to post pics if yuo want to see them!

Cram

pics would be great

[the colorist]

brass doesnt rust lol
laquer as a coating works well
any particular brand? and have you recieved your frame from the states yet?

[the colorist]

I am in the process of building 2 machines, I used Birchwood casey Perma Blue on one and it came great. I dipped it in the solution for about 4 min. Just make sure you clean it real well, It cost me $3.99 for the perma blue from Walmart.
My second frame I'm going to use the Plum Brown (made for antique guns) I'm waiting for the UPS truck to get here so I can get going on it. I'll try to post pics if yuo want to see them!

Cram what section of walmart can i find perma blue?and what do you suggest to clean it with?

[framey]

any particular brand? and have you recieved your frame from the states yet?

nope not yet
the laquer i bought was about $1 a bottle

[cramsoup]

You can find perma blue in the gun section. You can use a gun cleaner to get all the oil off the metal or you can use dishwashing detergent. Make sure you wear gloves so the oil from your hands doesn't get on the cleaned metal.

[liarsenic]

Powder coating is by far the sexiest method. Search the web on how to powder coat stuff. If you find nothing, "blueing" is another good method, yet again, if you dont find anything on that, a very THIN coat of epoxy gets rock hard and is perfectly clear (depending on how much patience and skill you have).

[cramsoup]

I just posted the pics of my machines in machine tweaks.
1 is perma blued gun metal
and the other is antique brown.

check them out!!!

[NHBB1]

since I have a firearm background I think I can make a suggestion here...

cold blue is typically used for touchups, it is not that durable and can wear fairly easily. professional bluing is done with special equipment that gives an excellent constant finish..

unless you plan on using it a lot I wouldnt bother with the bluing tank and all the shit used for the process... but if you really wanted, you could take a frame to a gunsmith to have it professionally blued and give it an awesome gun finish. not sure what they would charge you.. depends on where you go.

[needles]

you can oil black a frame too you do this by heating it up evenly to cherry red no hotter and then quenching it in old used diesel oil the more dirty the better. this is used widely.. not so good for stainless brilliant for mild steel and iron

[jerryboy]

Gun bluing is just a controlled rust. Being a custom gun builder for many years,I know this. Little or no protection for your machine frame. May look cool,but offers little protection. If you insist on using it for your tattoo machine,bake the frame at 400 for 4 hrs.You will be surprised to find the crap that will ooze out of the steel. Then degrease with acitone. Then microwave the perma blue until the container gets hot to the touch. Then use a q tip to apply. Might be better to just apply the blue while the frame is still hot. The slightest bit of moisture will coat the frame with surface rust.And with the spraying and working odf a Tattoo, it's surely doomed.
There is an ultimate protective coating for precious guns/tattoo machines.
Parkerization over a product called gun coat. Indestructable and impervious to most solvents.

jerryboy

[liarsenic]

I recently blued my handcrafted machine..... THE STUFF STINKS. It smells like sweaty pocket change or moldy copper. The smell will NOT go away, smells less than before, but if you take a wiff, you notice. Other than that, looks awesome.
Anywho, that machine started as a raw chunk of angle iron. I drew the design on the metal, cut it out with a torch, grinded the rough edges with a bench grinder, dremelled the heck out of it, drilled the holes, bent the tube vise and rear upright with heat and a hammer. polished it to a mirror finish, blued it. I handwrapped the coils, big gauge magnet wire, 11wraps, wound them submerged in resin (so no air would remain between the wire, increasing the magnetic field.) then sealed them with heatshrink wrap.

Here's a shitty webcam image of it. Let me know how you like it ;).

Thanks,
-liarsenic

http://rodrick.ca/Picture%2052.jpg

[DGapp]

That is some killer work! I'm about to do the same (w/ angle iron)

[black raven]

I recently blued my handcrafted machine..... THE STUFF STINKS. It smells like sweaty pocket change or moldy copper. The smell will NOT go away, smells less than before, but if you take a wiff, you notice. Other than that, looks awesome.
Anywho, that machine started as a raw chunk of angle iron. I drew the design on the metal, cut it out with a torch, grinded the rough edges with a bench grinder, dremelled the heck out of it, drilled the holes, bent the tube vise and rear upright with heat and a hammer. polished it to a mirror finish, blued it. I handwrapped the coils, big gauge magnet wire, 11wraps, wound them submerged in resin (so no air would remain between the wire, increasing the magnetic field.) then sealed them with heatshrink wrap.

Here's a shitty webcam image of it. Let me know how you like it ;).

Thanks,
-liarsenic

http://rodrick.ca/Picture%2052.jpg
are those 1 " inch coils? what size are the cores? i,m assuming you used 22G wire? also whats submerged in resin?

[liarsenic]

The coils are 22 millimeters = 0.866141732 inches in diameter, the wire gauge was 20G.

The coil cores are about 8 millimeters.

I wound the coils (wrapped the wires) in resin so no air would be between the wires.

[black raven]

the reason why i ask is , one your 18, did you work side by side with someone who has more experience than you? you say you just drew this design on some angle iron , no schematics or nothing? also perhaps those pictures are misleading , but 20 g. wire wrapped 11 times would be huge, doesn't look that way in the photo. in order to get it this clean looking you must have a a few quite a few others you have built also, why dont you put up a couple pictures of those. this time use a digital , like to see the coil side of the machine.

[liarsenic]

I found the magnet wire spool i used, its 22G. And to answer your question regarding the quality of it, I've been working with metal since i was 12 with my dad. My dad owns a machine shop.

The other thing about my age, no, I did this machine all by myself. And for the schematic, I took another one of my machine frames, measured where the uprights should be and where the holes should be, in other words, the basic dimensions of a tattoo machine, then I went creative with the design.

Hope this answered your questions.

Peace

EDIT: And no, this is the first one I built, I took my time with it, didnt rush anything.

[black raven]

well thats very impressive then. you got some talent there.

[liarsenic]

The digital images requested.
Second one is a bit blurry, but you can still see how big the coils are.

http://rodrick.ca/DSCF0192.jpg
http://rodrick.ca/DSCF0197.jpg