How to Make a Homemade Tattoo Gun With a Sewing Needle

Are you wondering how to make homemade tattoo gun with a sewing needle? If YES, here is a perfect way to go about it .

Right from ancient times, tattoo artists have changed and evolved with both time and culture. In this age, the choice of professionals are between coil and rotary tattoo machines, and no longer rose thorns, bamboo needles, shark’s teeth, or pelican bones.

The modern tattoo machines leveraged by professionals have numerous needles that move rapidly in quick succession over the dermis.

DIY tattoos are often done in a style known as “stick and poke,” freestyled with a single needle and ink that creates a single dot with every new puncture. It is, without doubt, quite slower and more painful. However, this tattoo style has been garnering more attention in recent times owing to the desire of this modern generation to be unique and more personal.

Have it in mind that the most common stick and poke tattoo tool consists of a sewing needle inserted right between a pencil and its metal socket. Stick and poke are known to be as safe as using a tattoo machine as long as the person practicing the method understands the process. However, things tend to get more complicated when people get tattoos on themselves at home.

Although it might seem as innocent as any other hobby, people are not advised to give or get a tattoo with the typical home supplies: a sewing needle, thread, and pen or craft ink.

First and foremost, sewing needles are quite wider than tattoo needles and open the skin more, and this can instigate blowouts and unnecessary scarring. Improper sterilization, disposal, and wrong ink type are some of the reasons to stick to hand poke tattoo kits or to a professional poker.

Howbeit, it is imperative to understand that you can contaminate other people or yourself if you do not follow health and safety measures. It is also necessary to have good material when you are getting a tattoo because usually pre-prepared tattoo kits are really cheap and contain bad materials that could be harmful.

Things You Need to Make a Homemade Tattoo Gun With a Sewing Needle

• Pen
• Motor (from a Walkman, recorder, etc)
• Small paperclip
• Knife or razor blade that can cut through the pen
• Solder
• 10/13 sewing needles
• Power cord
• Candle
• Hot glue gun
• Pliers
• Any thin, flexible wire, like those from the inside of a pair of headphones
• Button with four holes
• Rubber band

Steps to Make a Homemade Tattoo Gun With a Sewing Needle

More and more people today are sidestepping professional tattoo artists who charge outrageous prices in favor of having inexperienced friends ink them or poking themselves with a single needle dipped in ink. To make a homemade tattoo gun with a sewing needle, here are steps to take.

1. Start with cutting the pen roughly three inches from the tip. Also, cut the closed end of the cap off, and then use the candle flame to heat up the plastic of the clip so that it’s compliant and flexible.
2. Also bend the clip of the pen into an L shape, coming out at a 90 degree angle from the cap itself. About halfway out, bend the plastic back up at another 90 degree angle, making it an L shape. However, ensure to let the plastic harden after the first bend before going on to the next.
3. At this point, take the longer end of the pen and rotate it above the candle flame to slowly melt it. Carefully, gently and slowly, pull the end out and sculpt it into a thinner, smaller tube. Cut about two inches of the smaller tube off and securely slide the wider end into the hole where the tip of the pen used to come out of the previous three-inch part of the pen. On the other end of the three-inch piece of the pen, attach the cap with the L-shape pointing upward.
4. Then hold the motor straight over the top of the pen, with the motor well aligned on the L. Make sure the middle of the motor is lined up with the hole in the top of the pen. Glue it into place.
5. Take your time to open up your paperclip so that it is as flat as possible and heat it up over the candle flame by holding each end with a pair of pliers, pulling outward to stretch it out. Then take three needles and group them so that the tips form a circle.
6. At this point, leverage a very thin wire to wrap the needles and hold them in that shape. Solder the paperclip to the set of needles, and solder the needles together. Use the pliers to bend the top centimeter of the paperclip at a 90 degree angle.
7. Carefully Slide the needles in through the cap with the L-shaped clip and through the barrel and determine how short to cut your needle. Immediately it cut put the smaller bent section through a hole in a small button, and use the hot glue gun to attach one bottom hole of the button to the center of the motor. Wrap a rubber band around the motor and button to keep them stable when the gun is turned on.
8. Hook your power source up to the motor and starting practicing with your homemade tattoo gun.

Conclusion

Hand poke tattoos are as unique and permanent as machine tattoos; the difference is in the technique leveraged to push ink into the skin. However, note that homemade tattoo guns can be tricky to make and use, therefore endeavor to practice on something else before inking on human skin.

Also, take your time to research all the laws in your area that involve tattooing someone else. You also have to be certain that your equipment has been sterilized prior to use.