Cutting metal for laying ink

END USER: AMR Machines LLC, (860) 336-6208.
CHALLENGE: Reduce cycle times and time spent loading and unloading parts into a machine.
SOLUTION: Use clamps to create custom fixture plates and gang more parts per machining cycle.
SOLUTION PROVIDER: Mitee-Bite Products LLC, (800) 543-3580, www.miteebite.com.

Be it a depiction of a micrometer, a dragon or Larry, Moe and Curly, a sizeable portion of the population likes to adorn their epidermis with tattoos. Handcrafted tattoo machines for laying the ink can be fabricated from clock radio and headphone parts, but people tend to favor professional tattoo machines rather than looking like they received their designs while doing hard time.

Austin Riley understands the trade and, in 2012, founded AMR Machines LLC, Putnam, Conn., to machine parts for tattoo machines and make and distribute the machines and their components.

Courtesy of AMR Machines

Mitee-Bite clamps enable AMR Machines to gang up to 60 parts in a fixture.

Along with another machinist, he produces the machine frames and parts on two vertical machining centers and a CNC lathe without live tooling. The workpiece materials include ductile iron, steel, brass, aluminum and Delrin. Initially, the shop was machining up to four parts at a time on a double vice, but needed a more cost-effective method. “They are low-dollar parts,” he said.