How to Make a Tattoo Gun

Use This Jailhouse-style Device for Practice

The most essential tool to the process of tattooing is the tattoo “gun”. This tool will be the most expensive piece of equipment that a tattooist will own. As a service to you, the aspiring tattoo professional, I offer this instruction on how to make a tattoo gun from common household objects for the purpose of practice. I will cover the parts list, proper sterilization technique, construction, and finally proper maintenance and pre/post practice sterilization. This instruction for the Jailhouse-style (referring to the origin for this device) gun is for use on a non-living practice medium only; such as a piece of leather.

A mechanical pencil with eraser will serve as the body of the gun, a servo motor (found in a cassette player) will drive the needle which we will fashion from a large-sized paper clip. A metal spoon will serve as the cradle to hold the motor which will be powered by a UL rated power supply such as the plug-in adapter of a CD player. An emery board will be used to sharpen the needle, while electric tape will be used to hold it all together. You will need scissors to cut the tape as well as for stripping the plastic insulation from the power supply. Lastly, 70% rubbing alcohol will be used in the sterilization process. 

Let’s start preparing our parts to be sterilized. The mechanical pencil will serve as the body of the “gun”. Starting with an empty pen; carefully remove the pen clip, and the plug that holds the eraser. Keep the eraser for another portion of the “gun”. Next, bend your metal spoon into an L-shape with the bend happening just before the bowl of the spoon. Then, take the paper clip and unwind it so it is as close to straight as possible. Make sure that when straightened that the needle is at least half an inch longer that the pencil itself. You will need the extra length to attach the needle to the motor.