Forum

Exactly the last part you said, at least for me, i use 2 liners when i'm tattooing, one for outlines and the other one for shading but they have different configurations, you have to change the stroke length and the also loose or tighten the rear spring, i will use it around 7V since it is a 6 wraps coils machine and it give me around 118rpm, so it is pretty much about the rpms and the config you have with armature bar and the stroke length, etc. I don't know about anyone else, i have tried with regular shaders but they just won't work for me, i'm even thinking about to change everything to rotatory's, still, just my personal experience, hope it helps, check the guy atchinson's book, reinventing the tattoo, it may help you as it did to me. Cheers mate.

Andi Engel uses a liner to shade small delicate areas like eyes or teeth lips etc. If you are doing realistic work you should better use a soft shader with mags for larger areas to get a nice tone. However using a liner needle for small areas with a lot of detail is very helpful but you should not use an ultra fast liner with a short stroke. You can put a liner needle in a shader (not a color packer with a hard hit!) for that effect or you use a soft six wrap liner for small needle settings. You can whip shade with liners which gives you a traditional style of the tattoo but not a soft shade.

There is a lot to understand regarding machine mechanics. Like the relationship between gauge of spring width of spring length of spring applies to both front & rear springs. The distance between the rear deck & the back of the armature bar. The washer on the rear spring saddle or round.. Rear Spring Tension, Coil Core Diameter & Height Wraps gauge of wire. Armature Bar width Length Weight. Contact Screw Setting.

A Liner Typically Runs at a higher Hertz/CPS & has a lower % typically 0% FT/STL/AMPS. Duty is typically 50% to 54% Shaders have a Duty of 48% to 50% A Lower 95 to 115 HERTZ/CPS & a FT/STL/AMPS of 20%

The Frame Geometry on a Liner is the Front Binding Post & Contact Screw are to The center or forward of the center of the front coil! The Space Between The Rear Deck & The Rear of The Armature Bar is smaller the Armature Bar is typically smaller in length width & lighter in weight, the coils are typically smaller. The frontier spring is shorter wider & stiffer, rear Spring is stiffer. The machine typically has a lower rated UF Capacitor. So it is faster & hits harder.

A Shader has a longer front spring narrower, & the Rear spring is softer longer narrower The distance between The Rear Deck & the armature bar is greater than the liner thus creating less rear spring tension.the coils are usually taller & have more wraps The capacitor is typically a higher UF Rating this allows more stored energy when the machine bogs. The front binding post & contact screw are forward of the front coils center point.So its softer slower.

That Being Said !

It is a personal decision it is depending on your hand speed technique etc. You can line with a shader & Shade With a Liner.
It is how the tattoo turns out that matters. You are an artist the needle groupings machines & inks etc just tools.

Typically you want a softer machine for shading.
Typically you want a punchy machine for linings.

But What Works Works!

IMO depending on what you are trying to accomplish the needle grouping size, your style, etc determines the machine.

Rotary's for example the stroke length & RPMS tell you how large of a grouping it will push. 6,000 RPMSgood for lining soft shading, but packing color 10,000 to 14,000 RPMS . do to size of needle grouping & stroke length.

Take Care, Bill Kearney