Best/Favorite machine material

Asking all you pros again- When it comes to purchasing a machine- is there a best and worst material for it to be made of, or is it a personal preference thing? Iron, aluminum, stainless steel, etc...? Are there just certain pros and cons to each?

This is where the old saying "what works for you may not work for me" comes into play. It's mostly personal pref, but there are technical differences, but since they are technical, I don't think we can discuss it on here.

There is not a best material. All materials have their advantage. Cold rolled steel : Ferrous material that doesn't require your machine to use a yoke. This means that the frame is usually shorter than machines with yokes. Hard to cast or forge. Brass: material easy to cast, very soft, ideal for carving. Require yoke. Aluminum: Lightest material that you'll find out there on a machine (with exception of someone making a frame out of titanium) Require Yoke. This material is usually the best choice for people with wrist problem. Machine is usually noisier than the other materials. Coper: Mild material, require yoke. Expensive material to make a frame from. My choice has always been steel with a lot of air in the frame this way you get the best of both worlds.

carbon fiber.

i've only seen one or two machines made of carbon fiber... and if you look at the electrical properties you'll understand why, the material itself wreaks havoc with electrical signals and causes a lot of interference. my favorites are iron or bronze, but they both have thier negatives, bronze will dampen the vibrations but i've had a lot of problems with stripped threads and have to use extra long screws. Iron is great but the weight becomes an issue when tattooing for long sessions.

um.. actually no, my carbon fiber machines run smooth as hell. and as far as i know, i'm the only one who's built them.

um.. actually no, my carbon fiber machines run smooth as hell. and as far as i know, i'm the only one who's built them.

sounds way cool...........let's see

Please let's see. Is the side plate CF or is the entire machine made of CF?

corbon fiber seems too flexible to make a machine. Did you craft the frame out of a sheet of carbon fiber? how about the spring deck? Is the vise/ coil deck steel? Would love too see a picture.

they started as full CF for the whole frame, but they were so light i had to add cast iron tube vices to at least get a little weight on top of the tube. there's some pics on a few pro forums out there, so go look for em if you want to see.

yup he has made a carbon fibre machine I have seen the earlier models