apprentice with a question

im an apprentice at a shop in colorado and have a technical question for u guys. up until about a month ago i was using the shop owners extra machines to tattoo and have had no problem but just recently i bought a soba pilot liner and shader that have been giving me problems. more the shader than the liner, the needle is "floating" (best way to describe it) in the tube, where as in the owners machine it was sitting flush against the base. the shop owners the type that wants me to figure this out on my own as with almost every part of this apprenticeship so far (do not agree with this teaching style, u wouldnt give an apprentice electrition a tool and tell him to learn as he goes, same same) neway, the conclusion ive come to is that the armature bar is a milimeter or two too short, what do you pros think?

elastics should snug that needle down some.

I guess you wouldn't do that to an electrician cause you could electrocute yourself and die, but I think it's a suitable thing for him to do so you can better your understanding of your tools. Sorry if I sound like a dick, but that's the way it goes. As far as a solution to your problem, good luck. BTW, I'm not being a dick. I just really don't know.

Yeh,id just take the gun apart and rebuild a few times.Spacing is very easy to solve.And taking apart and putting ur machine back together is really good practice.Man, even some people i work with here dont know how to fix there own machines lol.