Maker Pro
Maker Pro

Advice on linear actuators ? Length of strong strokes per second ?

Hayden

Apr 15, 2021
2
Joined
Apr 15, 2021
Messages
2
Howsit guys need some advice on actuators on what's possible and what's not or what's the next best option thanks!
 

Minder

Apr 24, 2015
3,478
Joined
Apr 24, 2015
Messages
3,478
Rather a vague question.
What are you trying to achieve?
There are quite a few types and many sizes.
 

Hayden

Apr 15, 2021
2
Joined
Apr 15, 2021
Messages
2
A tattoo machine but I stead of mechanical I want to try make a electronic one ? So simply somethin that moves linear up and down very quickly and constantly
 

Harald Kapp

Moderator
Moderator
Nov 17, 2011
13,700
Joined
Nov 17, 2011
Messages
13,700
I stead of mechanical I want to try make a electronic one ? So simply somethin that moves linear up and down very quickly and constantly
That is mechanical, too.
I doubt that linear actuators are designed for that kind of operation. As there are so many variants of linear actuators, you'll have to check the datasheets of the ones you want to use.
It is probably best to stick with the classic and proven design of tattoo machines.
 

Nanren888

Nov 8, 2015
622
Joined
Nov 8, 2015
Messages
622
We've had one for years. About 3m stroke and not sure speed, but maybe several meters per second at full out for short distances.
.
I guess electric shavers tend to move in near linear motion, probably 50/60 times per second?
I guess toothbrushes are usually rotatry.
 

ratstar

Aug 20, 2018
485
Joined
Aug 20, 2018
Messages
485
Can u make a little crank? then all u need is a dc motor.
Do a rotational to translational, the stroke can be as long as u build it for and itll be pretty fast and strong.
 

hevans1944

Hop - AC8NS
Jun 21, 2012
4,878
Joined
Jun 21, 2012
Messages
4,878
There is an art to applying tattoo ink. I was not aware that there is now a machine to apply tattoos. Can anyone provide a link to an image of such a machine?

Hollywood often requires certain realistic-appearing tattoos on their actors. Since these actors usually have a real life, somewhere away from the camera, they may want their "tattoos" removed after shooting "wraps." Dry transfer decals come to mind as a a way to accomplish this, but I am sure there are more "permanent" solutions that don't wash away under the rigors of acting. The decals, or whatever the "tattoos" were made from, should have an ink that is readily soluble in a common substance, such as cold cream, that allows for the "easy" removal of the tattoo.

I am in the process of inventing (just waiting for technology to catch up) a multi-color ink-jet spraying "paint brush" that has 3D positioning information built into the paint head, so it "knows where the head is" at all times. It remembers this positioning information too, so all the "artist" has to do is move this high-tech "paint brush" over the canvas and a stored image will be sprayed onto the canvas. It's smart enough to know what areas have received paint, and how much paint, so no skill is required to move the "paint brush" around and across the canvas.

This works great for painting scenes on the side of vans and tractor trailers, too, although it would be more efficient to just pull or roll these larger objects past a vertical array of paint spray nozzles. A variation on this theme appears in the Sci-Fi TV series "The Expanse," but I don't claim first discovery, or even believe an actual implementation could ever have an enforceable patent. Maybe someone here on EP will build it and make a ton of bux painting washable advertisements on tractor trailers. Professional truckers are washing their rigs anyway, so why shouldn't they pick up some advertising dollars as the roll down the highway?
 

hevans1944

Hop - AC8NS
Jun 21, 2012
4,878
Joined
Jun 21, 2012
Messages
4,878
Hello,

The wiki has a page on tatto machines:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tattoo_machine

Bertus
Umm. Not what I had in mind. The wiki shows examples of tattoo devices that inject ink under the skin with a needle. What I am looking for is a machine that replaces the hand of the tattoo artist, perhaps using one of the "tattoo machines" shown in the wiki to apply the ink under the control of a computer.:eek:
 

ratstar

Aug 20, 2018
485
Joined
Aug 20, 2018
Messages
485
Ur idea is cool. U could get really software savvy with that and use computer vision to do the localization and mapping, or use an accellerometre.
 

hevans1944

Hop - AC8NS
Jun 21, 2012
4,878
Joined
Jun 21, 2012
Messages
4,878
Ur idea is cool.
Yeah, I've been thinking about it for a few years now, waiting for technology to advance to the point where I could actually make a successful product either for sale or for me to use. The "magic paintbrush" was shown several times in scenes from "The Expanse" and their concept is much better than my original thoughts on the subject. I was initially thinking of a service that paints multi-colored scenes on the side of vehicles. In it's simplest form that would be a vertical pole that the paint sprayer would travel up and down on, along with a mechanism, similar to what is used in automatic car washes, to pull the vehicle slowly past the print head. Of course there is no reason, other than cost and complexity, not to eliminate the moving paint head and just have thousands of paint nozzles squirting paint. But the moving paint head is simple to implement and any ink jet printer can provide inspirational information on how to do it... just scale the ink jet printer up in size. A 2D array of paint nozzles would be even faster... maybe ten seconds per scene and then "bake" the paint dry with an appropriate set of lamps... maybe UV-C wavelengths such as germicidal lamps emit, to cross-link molecules in the paint to molecules in an undercoating... or plain old infrared heat lamps.
.
 
Last edited:

ratstar

Aug 20, 2018
485
Joined
Aug 20, 2018
Messages
485
Sounds like it would be good for a practical joke. :) Technology in general is good for that.
 

hevans1944

Hop - AC8NS
Jun 21, 2012
4,878
Joined
Jun 21, 2012
Messages
4,878
Yikes! Vandals with hand-held cans of spray paint aren't good enough? Now you want them able to make high-tech art statements on the sides of random buildings, walls, sidewalks, trucks and vans? Graffiti would never be the same!
 
Top