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Looking to the Medical World for tattoo tips!
Looking to the Medical World for tattoo tips!
There are other instances in which needles are designed to cause the smallest amount of injury feasible. The hypodermic needle, for example, is intended to rapidly and painlessly slide into the skin.
A hypodermic needle has a chamfered or beveled tip. The needle gets finished through beveling, which adds a sharp point to the tube by creating an angle on the surface. The bevel angle allows the needle to puncture the skin while reducing the amount of trauma.
There are two main types of bevels used for hypodermic needles.The short bevel has a tip angle of 30-45 degrees. Then, the long bevel’s tip angle is from 12-15 degrees. Outside of those two categories, there are other specific types. The lancet bevel provides the sharpest point for a hypodermic needle. It features a 15-degree tip angle. The more extreme the angle is the sharper and less traumatic it is to the skin, leading to greater suction and greater tattoo ink saturation.
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Tattoo Science! The Physics of Tattooing Part 2 | Tattoo Overview | Episode 9
Tattoo Needles and the Geometry of a Hole
Tattoo Needles and the Geometry of a Hole
There are a few reasons why angle matters. One has to do with the vector of the force. When you're tattooing at a 90 degree angle, the vectors are pointing straight down and are absorbed by the skin. However, when you tattoo at a 45 degree angle, the vectors are pointing up and out, or away from the skin, which means that they compress the skin less.
The other reason has to do with geometry. When you come at the skin from an angle, the needle is creating an elliptical hole. This elliptical shape allows for more ink to be deposited in one pass.
