Swashdrive Tattoo Machine

In the Begining

It all happened one  night visiting a friend Tattooist,  working at Dermagraphics on College hill, Auckland, New Zealand in the year 1993. When out of the blue his machine had a failure, with frustration he threw it clean out the door. Instantly without delay I jumped on it and began to wonder! Couple months later I showed up to Dermagraphics with the first prototype.The guys were very willing to give it a go. This was a very proud moment for me, as the first Swash plate tattoo machine had inked the skin! 

The Swashdrive Tattoo machine was born and working very strong, their were a few design floors and a couple of machining errors but in essence it was alive. Several prototypes and a few years later we started Researching the science behind the swash plate (Sine wave needle velosity ) and why it was doing such an excellent job tattooing, as it had surpassed our expectations.

Today the new Millennium their are several thousand Swashdrive Tattoo machines being used in the professional art of Tattooing, and these machines have become renowned for their efficiency and quality Craftsmanship.

A Fundamental difference

The swashdrive Tattoo machine is fundamentally different to any other mechanical tattoo machine in use, The mechanism that converts the rotary motion of the electric motor to the reciprocating needle movement is done by means of a swashplate, not a cranking action nor a cam action.

What is a swashplate

The easiest way to describe the action is to, take a large coin, stand it on its edge and give it a spin, as it slows from spinning and starts to fall on its side it gives of a wobbling action, this is known as a swashing action this is a natural phenomenon. In essence the swashdrive uses this action to convert rotary to reciprocating action. The swashing action is the most efficient method of conversion to date and in this machine it generates a massive 15:1 mechanical advantage, giving it the ability to drive huge shading clusters of up to 80 needles.

Whilst this machine packs a huge punch it also is extremely efficient with its ink delivery, the needle velocities of this machine are of a sine wave, meaning the speed of the needles are of a constant velocity. What does this mean for tattooing ? compared to a rotary (cranking action) at the same hits per second (rpm) the needle velocities are 20% slower. So in essence the machine will operate or work up to 20% faster and have the same impact on the skin.

On-going Development & Refinment

Swashdrive Developments are continually researching and developing the Tattoo machine to further refine its performance and reliability. We make no apologies for furthering the refinement but can guarantee it improving as time goes by !