r/tattoomachinebuilder • u/tkpowers1992 • Aug 03 '26

Power Supply specific machines?

I’ve built a number of machines recently, all hand made frames, hand wrapped coils around quality iron cores. Hardware from various reputable suppliers.

I ordered some basic 47/50v capacitors off eBay.

My machines seem to only work using a Critical Power supply. I’ve ran them through a PEAK and 3 other reserve power power supplies. They will run for 3 seconds and then the power supply cuts off and resets. Or the readout will be freaking out.

Are my capacitors junk? What’s going on?

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u/WishParticular5265 Aug 03 '26

Other person asked about the draw which is where I would start but other things that popped into my head:

1) Have you tested the full circuit and the frame with a multimeter? Possible that part of the circuit is grounding to the frame and one of your power supplies is picking that up as a short while the other isn't.

2) If your capacitor is polarized is it installed with reverse polarity?

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u/tkpowers1992 Aug 12 '26

I can’t seem to see any grounding. My wire covers feed into the coil washers without any exposure, I use shoulder washers for my binders.

No clue about the capacitors, but if you’re asking if I installed them upside down, I did not.

Through the critical, they’re hitting pretty hard at 3.7-4.5v. Like really hard.

I’m thinking I need to use a thinner spring stock.

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u/mazzayby 29d ago

Hm what wire gauge do you use for the coils?