Machine photos? Scroll down, or click the ‘Tattoo Machines’ category on the left and then scroll down. Many of the pictured machines are sold, and a few are not. We work as quickly and steadily as we can to get you new machines. AFTER you read a bit about our machines, if you have any questions please email Ugly Bill at director@specialtechnique.net, or Brian Campbell at briancampbell.mail@gmail.com.

If we cannot verify that you work in a tattoo shop, you will not get a machine from us. No exceptions. If we haven’t met you yet, we’ll probably ask to see your portfolio and/or your shop website. We’d do this anyway, since making and selling our machines is very personal with us. We like being familiar with the work and reputation of our clients.

Special Technique is an artist collective. We have many projects including music, garments, spiritual pursuits, and of course the crafting of mechanical devices. Check out our music/dj pages for cutting-edge beats, and visit our Magic section for natural health solutions.

Thanks to all our supporters.

Special Technique makes equipment for PROS IN SHOPS ONLY. We check, every time. Please make it easy on us and tell us what shop you tattoo in.

Building machines is our craft and art medium. Most of our machines take a long time to build. Also, we are committed to your satisfaction, and helping you have more fun tattooing. That’s why we started this project in the first place.

If you have detailed questions, READ THROUGH OUR SITE. If you have questions beyond that, you can email us at director@specialtechnique.net.

Many of our machines offered for sale include free shipping. On these, we include the shipping costs in the price and save some paperwork.

If you order a machine that’s built already, it should be at your door in 7-10 days. If you pre-order a machine that IS NOT built already, you will have it within two weeks. OVERSEAS ORDERS: Shipping will take a few more days but we will get your order out the door as quickly as possible.

WARRANTY INFO: In many of the machines we have made in 2011 and 2012, replacing the motor and other mechanical parts is extremely easy and intuitive. We guarantee that all the moving parts in our rotaries will work correctly for a year. If you have a problem before a year passes, we will mail you parts or ask you to send us the machine. This doesn’t happen often, so we have no problem with doing free repairs or mailing out free parts in these cases. If you are not the original owner of the machine, or if it’s been longer than a year, we’ll fix your machine for a small fee, or send you parts as needed. We will charge you cost plus shipping on any parts shipments.

Our older machines often require some sorcery to replace the parts. If you have one of our machines from 2009 or 2010, please email us a photo of the machine, and we’ll decide whether we can send you parts or if we have to replace them ourselves.

To order a handbuilt custom rotary from Special Technique, please email us at director@specialtechnique.net.

Unending thanks to the tattoo industry! You have given our lives meaning and satisfaction…

You can do certain things with needle acceleration on a rotary machine that you can’t do on an electro machine, and vice versa. As it stands now there is no ultimate answer to tattoo devices. Since there are so many types of artists and ‘tattoo hands’ it’s great that there’s such a variety of tools available now.

Some rotaries are ‘stabby’ which makes a machine only good for color packing and whip shading. Some people are looking for this of course. Chad Koeplinger rocks it with some very nice but simple direct-rotaries, just as an example. A lot of rotaries have ‘dampening’ which means there is some give or bog down to the mechanism. This imitates the give of a coil machine, and will make the rotary a more versatile tool.

At Special Technique we have worked hard to provide the right type and amount of dampening in our mechanisms. Our machines usually have a long stroke and medium dampening, so you can line and shade with our machines. Of course we do requests if clients are looking for something specific.

The main difference as i see it is that rotaries tend to run slower and leave the steel of the needle in contact with the skin longer. This dynamic allows for a more efficient transfer of pigment to the skin, and allows the artist to layer colors more easily. However, some folks can’t get along with this feel of machine. My personal experience with rotaries was that the machine ran slower, but my tattooing got much faster. I quickly doubled and tripled my coils-only tattooing speed when I got the hang of rotaries. I was liking the feel in around 3 tattoos, and totally had the hang of it in 3-4 weeks. A lot of my clients have no such learning curve, and get right in to faster tattooing the first time they try one of our machines. Being a tattooist helps me make the tools more intuitive to use.

One thing I don’t like about rotaries is that since a lot of the styles are relatively new, artists sort of forget that it’s a legit tattoo-related craft…And that the money should be kept inside the tattoo community.So there are all these companies making mass-produced rotaries that will tattoo fine, but they are cheaply made, and built by factory workers that don’t even have tattoos. You can look in Google search and see 10 million mass produced rotaries. I prefer not to endorse or support equipment suppliers unless their staff is all heavily tattooed people.

Our production machines are partly hand built by us in our home in San Diego, and partly cnc machined by our friend who is also a tattoo client of mine. His shop is also here in San Diego. we keep it local, and keep the money going back to tattooed folks. The Workhorse Irons rotary(which we helped design) follows this same ethic – the parts are machined in America and hand assembled by heavily tattooed folks. Yes I have verified this personally. I always urge everyone to keep this ethic in mind. It matters a lot, and keeping to the ‘code’ really makes a difference in the tattoo community and helps us all…

We have finally decided to make our 2010 yearbook “Revolutionary Force” available to the public. It contains about 60 mouth-watering photos of our earliest experiments with rotary tattoo machines. It’s a great coffee table book, an awesome gift, and marks the beginning of the big rotary explosion in the tattoo industry. The book is available in softcover, or hard cover with dust jacket. All the machines shown are hand-crafted custom oneoffs and will never be copied. Thanks to everyone who has helped and supported us. Buy Revolutionary Force – An Exploration of Rotary Tattoo Machines by Special Technique here.

Visit our Tattoo Machines section to see the machines we have available for sale. Special Technique makes machines for PROS IN SHOPS ONLY.

Hi folks. We have been tearing it down in the workshop lately, as well as pursuing some other projects. Sorry we haven’t been so communicative…

I’m scrambling to organize my trip to the Paradise Tattoo Gathering. If anyone wants to link up with me regarding that please email me at specialtechnique@gmail.com.

I’m setting up runs of t shirts, stickers, flyers, and other promotional swag… in between everything else! Stay tuned…

I have to take a moment here to thank Chris MK ULTRA for his tireless hours in the workshop. He’s quite the craftsman. Thanks Chris, hope I make it worth your while buddy!

My partner, Brian Campbell, is building our most costly machine to date… more on this very special machine soon.

Don’t forget, White Tiger Kung Fu’s family solution for joint problems is now available in our Magic section.

Hi y’all. We are still debating whether to hit up the Pomona convention or not… and here we are at the 3rd day of the convention ha ha.

(Update: We went to Pomona on Sunday. There was a lot of foot traffic but not a lot of tattooists with money :[ We hung around for a bit and sold one machine, and went home to San Diego.)

The machines we're making right now range from $350 to $450. The less pricey ones have more generic hardware. The machines with hand milled contacts and hand lathed thumbscrews, for example, will cost more. We buff all this shit by hand, ourselves :]

Each machine comes together with a slightly unique personality. We like this aspect. Lately I have been lengthening the stroke a bit, and making the hit a bit softer. The armature really feels velvety on your thumb. I can’t wait to tattoo with one of these things.

Speaking of tattooing, I have arranged a tattoo situation working in a shop after hours. This will allow me to micromanage the music, and avoid being heckled while my other brain cell is concentrating on tattooing for a few hours. This is all going to start in August. I’m looking forward to making some empowering symbols on skin.

I’m at the tail end of a dragon drawing project for the uniforms of a kung fu school here in San Diego. I really extra respect the people that have spent millions of hours of hard work refining their drawings, and can make really solid complex stuff off the top of their heads. Drawing important stuff is really hard :]

My friend that’s incarcerated is up to 3 sessions of zazen meditation per day now. He has also discovered that the vegetarian menu ain’t all that bad. He asked me what the real deal is with vegetarianism… I told him, and that was that ha ha…

We have machines for sale. Please click the ‘Tattoo Machines” link on your left to see our latest devices.

Many thanks

–Bill