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since u said ur leaving behind ample ink in a "TRENCH" in the skin i gotta ask are u riding the tube or giving some needle hang when lining? what size needle r u running? tight, bug pin, super tight, etc?

Yea without knowing what you run and how you run theres not much can be done.Usually I would say a hooked needle,you need to not try different shit but look at them with a loop and make sure they arent gonna snag.Better makes have better chance of being bad.You may be hitting skin to hard or too fast and not moving fast enough.Id say best bet is try doing a line with your shader and if it works good for you then you prolly needa make your liner move slow...other than that areas of the body can do this alot easier than others...feet hands knucles anywhere too dry as well.

Thanks for the response. Usually I run my liners slower. I am running about 100-110 hz and just hard enough to not bog the machine. All liner needles are 5 round tight and 7 round tight. I have the same problem with a 9 round tight. I have never used a machine at 130 or 140 hz. I also hang the needles out a bit. I have long throw not short. I have tried both ways and sometimes to the same result. I have not changed anything in my habits that I can see. I have been tattooing a while, this is new. I don't understand. I try to rule out all possibilities. How crucial is power supply? That's the next thing I'm looking at. Totally confused here. Thanks.

There could be many things wrong, however, if your technique is right then your problem may be as follows:

The speed of your machine is very slow for a liner. What is most likely happening is because the machine is running so slow, you are moving your hand to fast which is dragging the needle through the skin before the needle has a chance to come out. This is creating drag. This drag is what is causing your cuts.

To remedy this you must tattoo very, very slowly and be sure not to bury the needle deeper than your throw will allow. This will also cause cuts.

A much easier remedy so you don't have to spend hours of extra time on your line work is to invest in a faster machine. The speed of your liner is what many machine builders tune their machines at for color packing.

Everyone has different opinions but in my studies I've found a good liner should run between 135-155 cps. A good shader should around 120 cps, a color packer between 100-110 cps, and if you use a black and grey specific machine between 120-130 cps.

There are hundreds of great machines out there but not every one is good for every job. There are so many to choose from but at the end of the day it is all just personal preference. Anyway, this is just advice and by no means the law. Good luck on remedying your problem!