A Motion Sensing Tattoo Machine

Tattoo artists, by the nature of their craft, poke tiny holes into someone’s skin, meaning their implements have to be clean all of the time. Making this slightly more difficult, tattoo guns are normally triggered by a foot switch, meaning that if tools need to be packed up, this unsanitary device has to be combined with what are hopefully extremely clean marking implements.

YouTuber “Wildman Tech,” after being approached about this issue by his friend Andrew Hanson — a tattoo artist — created a unit to start and stop the gun with the wave of a hand.

For control, ‘Tech used a distance sensor hooked up to an Arduino to turn the gun on with one swipe, and off with another. The connection between the sensor module and tattoo device is the same 1/4” connector that a guitar uses, and electronics-wise it’s a very simple setup. It turns the machine on and off in the same way that you would control an LED.

Since style definitely counts in an environment where someone is creating permanent artwork on your body, he didn’t leave this as a pile of components held together with glue and/or duct tape. He instead make a pyramidal structure for it out of wood from a wine box. A hole is drilled in the top, enabling the sensor to stick out as a sort of circular capstone, and connections are allowed in via slots on the side. Now Hanson can travel with his equipment, impressing clients with a unique implement, while avoiding the dirt and grime that comes with a foot pedal switch traveling with the rest of his equipment.