Tattoo artists love the FK Irons Spektra Flux direct-drive wireless tattoo machine for its 4mm stroke.īut this stroke length causes a lot of trauma to your client’s skin. When working with a stroke length of 4.0mm and beyond, you’ve got enough momentum and heavy hitting to pack in a lot of ink with one pull. Perfect for American Traditional and Neotraditional tattooing, long stroke lengths can also be used for color packing and black and gray shading work when done with a professional, fast hand. When tattooing with a longer stroke length, your needles will move more slowly, since they have more distance to travel and retract but they’ll also hit hard, which means they pull the boldest lines in a single pass. That’s largely because a medium stroke length can handle working with smaller needle groupings but will struggle with heavy liners and magnums.īold, traditional artists are all about the long stroke. A single-pass line with a medium stroke usually won’t cut it if you’re trying to tattoo at your boldest. Also, the ever-popular FK Irons Spektra Xion is considered a medium stroke machine, including 3.7mm and 3.2mm interchangeable cam wheels.īut you’re not going to pull your boldest, crispiest lines with a medium stroke. Tattoo machines like the Vlad Blad Ultron C Pen have a fixed 3.5mm stroke for a wide variety of styles. With a middle-grade speed, hit, and retraction, it’s got a good, reliable amount of momentum for most tattooing. You’ll find a lot of all-rounder machines with fixed 3.5mm strokes. It’s most commonly used for color packing and shading. That’s because medium stroke lengths can perform a little bit of everything. You want to make sure your needles are retracting enough to pick up tattoo ink from your tube tip or cartridge reservoir.Ī good, reliable medium stroke length is a tattoo beginner’s best friend. Reminder: If you’re working with a short stroke length, your needle depth also must be short. But some tattoo machines like the FK Irons EXO come in a variety of fixed stroke length options, including short strokes like 2.5mm, according to your needs. Most tattoo machines with stroke lengths under 2.5mm are designed for permanent makeup. Tattoo artists who specialize in hyperrealism and black & grey count on soft stroke lengths a lot to get those smooth, seamless blends. That means you’ll cause less trauma to your client’s skin, so you can safely perform multiple passes.Ĭonsequently, short strokes are perfect for soft shading and blending work. Tattooing with a short stroke length means your needles are going to move faster, since they have less distance to travel and retract but despite their speed, your needles will hit softly. Oftentimes, tattoo artists use multiple stroke lengths during one tattoo session for lining, shading, blending, packing, and more. Typically, they’re used for different tattoo techniques and styles. There are three distinct stroke lengths: short, medium, and long. Check out how different stroke lengths are used in tattooing. Now that we’ve covered what stroke length is, we’ll get to the good stuff. So, if your needle depth is long and your stroke length is too short, your needles won’t be able to retract far enough to pick up more tattoo ink. That’s because the stroke length affects how far your needles retract into your tube tip or cartridge reservoir, where they pick up more tattoo ink. See how the two get confused? They’re very closely related. In fact, the longer your needle depth is, the longer your stroke length must be. Needle depth refers to how far your tattoo needles stick out of your tube or cartridge tip. It all depends on the kind of tattoo machine you’re using.įor coil machines, stroke length is the distance the armature bar travels before it strikes your needle.įor rotary machines, stroke length is the amount of travel your cam wheel (or stroke wheel) makes around its bearing in one rotation. For starters, stroke length has two (2) different definitions. But you may have asked yourself, “What the hell is it, exactly?”Īlso known as “throw,” stroke (or stroke length) is sometimes confused for needle depth. Stroke length is important for all basic tattooing techniques: lining, shading, and packing. By Danny Tress Last Updated: April 5, 2023
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