How to find proper range of volts for shading mags

Hello haven't been tattooing for long about a year mainly stick to the blacks my question is for how to find a good setting for mags, I got my liners running decent as of I started to line on some fake skin were I started at a low volts and worked my way up till I could run single lines at my hand speed so I started at 5volts and got to 7.8 volts and that's good on fake skin I'd drop it to like 7.2 around that for real skin, so that's for a standard 7linner my big concern I'm working on is with the mags I'm not sure how to properly adjust volts for mags and what there susspose to look like to be a gd point or range to be in I've got as far as I run machine again at low volts and I got up to 6.8 around there were I do the pendulum pass were i go the mag forward and back the same way then move mag over half the width of mag and do forward and back and so on then i go over the same part but come at it at a different angle and find it's dark but I was wondering is there a better approach maby I need more volts was just wondering what the pass of a mag should look like compared to a pass of a linner and the mags I'm using are 10 curved bugpin my machines I've been using are rotarys nothing special all dragonhawk and cheap power supply's I self taught just kinda been learning from reading and watching vids thanks for reading and replys....

the answer to all your questions is somewhere on the premium side. one must learn how to find the answers. some answers only come from understanding the underlying concept that precedes the task at hand. i can't answer your questions except to say that everyone has different voltages they prefer and different machines will dictate what voltages are required.

read, read, read. best answer.

on a rotary all changing the voltage does is change the speed of the stroke, not the length or the strength of the hit, Lining, shading and packing tend to want different stokes speeds and hit strengths (or a very experienced hand that can compensate). do you have separate machines for lining and shading and packing? or are you trying to do it all on the same machine (or multiple machines set up the same way?)

Definitely getting in over on the premium side will let you find all kinds of answers that have been deeply discussed on many topics.

RustDeamon said:

on a rotary all changing the voltage does is change the speed of the stroke, not the length or the strength of the hit, Lining, shading and packing tend to want different stokes speeds and hit strengths (or a very experienced hand that can compensate). do you have separate machines for lining and shading and packing? or are you trying to do it all on the same machine (or multiple machines set up the same way?)

Definitely getting in over on the premium side will let you find all kinds of answers that have been deeply discussed on many topics.

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Thanks for the reply ya think I'm gonna check out premium side, and yes numerous machines mainly all rotary I've been trying to work with the ones I got to use for shading the linning I worked thru and got it to work were I can hit decent lines with and for that I like acentric drive were I put it at 2.5 stroke and about 7volts gd to go I also got another machine that I wanted for a shader it's got give on it and stroke is 3.5 I like linning with that one two but I find I gotta have give in between 3&4 but I'd like to make that one a shader if I could find out how to set it for me I've pissed around with many of my machines on fake skin rubber stuff trying out new things and stuff and I find when I get stuff how I like it when I try it out on skin ain't working proper, for linning it was less stress full when moving to skin with shading say I get a couple passes and it's decent black on fake skin but on real skin it's like double that. I'd like to make one machine for linning and one machine for shading and another for packing solid,

Its a bit easier to set a machine to your hand once you have an undeerstanding of how you work or want the machine to work for you. For instance I like to use a sweeping and/or whipping technique and I like to build my tones rather than just starting with black. This also allows me to push and pull things in my composition on the fly without going dark right away. I use coil machines, so tuning is gonna be different, but my shader is set up like a cutback liner (cutback shader) It has a short stroke. Somewhere around 2.5 - 3mm with a standard 18g rear spring and modified or cut down 16g front spring so I have a softer medium hit. This also allows me to go over the same area multiple times without causing excessive damage to the skin

troub1edsou1z said:

Its a bit easier to set a machine to your hand once you have an undeerstanding of how you work or want the machine to work for you. For instance I like to use a sweeping and/or whipping technique and I like to build my tones rather than just starting with black. This also allows me to push and pull things in my composition on the fly without going dark right away. I use coil machines, so tuning is gonna be different, but my shader is set up like a cutback liner (cutback shader) It has a short stroke. Somewhere around 2.5 - 3mm with a standard 18g rear spring and modified or cut down 16g front spring so I have a softer medium hit. This also allows me to go over the same area multiple times without causing excessive damage to the skin

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Thanks for the reply a question about when u do the layering for shading so say on a rotary 2.5 or lower would be good to achieve layering for shading or on a machine with give have it to the softest setting for shading then a person can go over the same spot to achieve the shade a person wants little by little so when a person does the first pass do u go to your depth then the rest of the passes just lightly hit the skin or do u go the proper depth every pass ....

Stroke and give are a preference. I just prefer a short stroke shader because of the way I work. I just find that for me a short stroke allows me to manipulate the machine more like a pencil. I mean typically for shading you want your machine to hit softer but it still needs to penetrate the skin.
You should always be at proper depth except when your are whipping out.

Come on over to the premium side and you'll have access to a lot more info.......