Remembering Aussie Legends...Robbo's last model

Following on from my last post, here's more info about Machines built by our own Aussie Tattoo Legends.

Dan Robinson Snr is known to many across Australia & the world as either Danny or simply "Robbo".

Over the years, he designed & built a number of Frames, in a variety of different styles & materials.
The early 90's saw Dan's very last Frame style, which were all sand cast in what's known as "Gunmetal".
Dan liked his Machines to have some weight, so this choice of Gunmetal helped with that.

The casting for these Frames was done by a small Foundry located just down the road from his then Studio, Highline Tattooing, which is located near St. Kilda Junction.
This same small Foundry was also casting those "Logie" Frames from my previous post.

Dan would do all the work himself on these rough castings, the clean up, drilling, taping & their polishing.
Once all the stages were completed, the Frames were sent off to be chrome plated.
As with all of Dan's Frames, this was specifically designed & built as a Thin Armature Machine.


I recently had the opportunity to grab some photos of one of these old Robbo "Gunmetal" Frames.
This particular Frame belongs to Graeme Iles & my Thanks goes to him for allowing this opportunity.

In my personal opinion, this particular style Robbo Frame, would have to be his most iconic.

Commonly known as the Robbo "Gunmetal" Frame.
Designed & built by Dan (Robbo) Robinson Snr, early 90's

Inside view of the Robbo "Gunmetal" Frame.
Designed & built by Dan (Robbo) Robinson Snr, early 90's

Remembering Aussie Legends...a tale of two Frames

It saddens me that there's a whole lot of young Aussie Tattoo Artists who know all about Sailor Jerry...
...but know next to nothing about their very own "Aussie Tattoo Legends"...not even their names..!

Granted, it's not easy finding out about those Old Aussie's Legends, that's mostly because their names, stories, knowledge & history were always "passed on" verbally to the younger ones...
It seems that somewhere along the line, the names of our own Legends stopped being mentioned?

I post the following in an effort to get some of those old Aussie Tattoo Legends recognised & remembered.
My hope is that these names will once again grace the lips of the current generation of Aussie Tattoo Artists, without being followed by the question..."who's that??"


A blast from the past:
Had a very good friend & Tattoo Artist come to visit & to also pick up their finished Machines.
They'd brought along a few old cast Frames belonging to Dan Robinson Snr, for me to check out.

Talk about a "blast from the past"...I instantly recognised both of these Frames!!

• Dan Robinson Snr designed Frame for a Single & Twin Coil that he affectionately called the "Logie".
• Kevin Coppin designed Frame missing it's "Swing-Gate" component to clamp the Tube in place.

So I took the opportunity to grab some photos of these old Frames & now I "pass on" their info...


Dan (Robbo) Robinson Snr "Logie" Frame:
When I worked for Dan at Highline Tattooing in St. Kilda, he was getting his Frame designs cast at a small Foundry just down the road from the Studio.
Dan would get me to pick up the raw castings & I'd drop them off to him at his home.
So that "Logie" Frame was one of those designs I was picking up & dropping off to him.

Raw casting of  the "Logie" Frame to suit either a Single Coil or Twin Coil.
Designed & built by Dan (Robbo) Robinson Snr, early 90's

Inside view of  the "Logie" Frame to suit either a Single Coil  or Twin Coil.
Designed & built by Dan (Robbo) Robinson Snr, early 90's

Another view of  the "Logie" Frame to suit either a Single Coil or Twin Coil.
Designed & built by Dan (Robbo) Robinson Snr, early 90's

Kevin Coppin "Swing-Gate" Frame:
This particular Kevin Coppin Frame has a very different story attached to it.
Back in the late 80's, Kevin gave me an old mould he had for doing this particular Frame design.
Apparently there was a problem with it & as I used to be a Jeweller, he figured I'd be able to sort it out.
So the first thing I did was to get one cast in Brass, that way I could see where & what the problem was??
I did managed to get it all filed, but unfortunately life got in the way & this project got pushed aside.
In the 90's I gave this Frame to Dan, as he had a few ideas & wanted to have a play with it.
So 20 + years later, the very same Frame shows up at my place, exactly as I'd given it to Dan..!

It's kind of funny how "Life" does things like that...

"Swing-Gate" style Frame. (missing it's Swing-Gate component)
Design by Kevin Coppin

Inside view of this "Swing-Gate" style Frame. (missing it's Swing-Gate component)
Design by Kevin Coppin

Another view of this "Swing-Gate" style Frame. (missing it's Swing-Gate component)
Design by Kevin Coppin

Machine Building2...out they go!

I'd mentioned in a previous Blog post that I still had to build some "Aussie Old School" Machines.
Part of this included a 3.5mm Audio Socket & required a Bracket to suit these Jolly Frames.

Well here's those last two Machines, now all run-in & finished, ready to go off to their new homes.

Left to Right:
Thin Armature Liner with Rubber Block to suit a Straight Shaft Needle Bar...pure "Old School".
Heavy Armature Magnum with the standard Pin to suit Grommets or Nipples & Eyed Needle Bars.

Machine Building2...a huge Thanks

A huge Thanks needs to go to the guys at Eternal Ink for the running-in of all these Machines.
They are Justin, Rochey & Gary.

With a number of Orders having both Liners & Magnums, it's allowed the guys the option of using a big Tattoo to run-in 2 x Machines.

With the majority of these Jolly Machines now run-in, they're being posted off to their "new homes".

Brett Stewart's Tattoo Museum

Back in April while attending the Rights of Passage Show, I managed to catch up with Brett Stewart who is well known for both his Tattoo Supply & Museum.

The Australian Museum section already has some of my very early built & modified Machines which were made for Beans in the late 80's.
With my return to Machine building again, Brett was most interested in obtaining some of my newer ones.


The Hugo Machines
Batch 1 Machines were named Hugo Machines, which saw the very first of that Batch, Machine #1, going off to Jimmy Whitlock's Luckys Tattoo Museum.
From that Batch, there was a grand total of 11 Machines built, the other 10 were documented on the Blog here.
The last numbered of those Hugo Machines was #11, known as the "Tester" with a set of Lucky Coils.

But what hasn't been documented until now, was that there were actually 13 Frames made in total...
Because I was a Jeweller & being that those Frames were all hand made, I played it safe & so made a couple of extras just in case there was a possibility of a "reject" Frame.
In fact there were two "rejects":

• One had a slight twist within the Frame which was only detected in the final stages & whilst trying to straighten this Frame, a weld cracked making it a reject. This Frame was completed & is stamped.

• One had a 1.5mm drill bit break whilst drilling a pilot hole, which couldn't be removed, thus making it a reject. Although this Frame never reached the point of completion, it has been stamped for Brett.

Although these two Frames aren't complete Machines, I'm guessing in some ways they could be of more importance to Brett's Australian Museum, as normally they'd just have been thrown out as scrap metal.


The Jolly Machines
Batch 2 Machines are the current design Frame & are named Jolly Machines.
This new style of Frame started out as a set of 4 x prototypes, with the very first of them being #12,
having followed on from the last numbered of the previous Hugo Machines.
I've decided to set up this #12 prototype Jolly Machine just like I'd have run it back in the 90's.

• Thin Armature 

• Rubber Block to hold a straight Needle Bar (no Eye Loop)

• 3.5mm Audio Socket & Plug to suit as the Clip Cord connection (Aussie Old School)

In some of the photos, you'll see that I still needed to make up the Bracket for the 3.5 Audio Socket to be attached, but otherwise everything else was done.
And just like with any other of my Machines, this will also be getting tuned & run-in.

Then the two Hugo Frames & this #12 Jolly Machine will be going off to Brett's Australian Tattoo Museum.

The two reject Hugo Frames.
The lower one has the broken drill bit within the Spring Landing.

Here the broken drill bit can be clearly seen in the Spring Landing.
It can also be seen that I did try drilling it out.

Side by side view of both the reject Fames showing their Spring Landings. 

The #12 Jolly Machine awaiting it's Bracket.

Each of the Frames is individually engraved by me, here the engraved #12 can be clearly seen.

Thin Armature, Rubber Block & a straight Needle Bar.

Another view of the #12 Jolly Machine.

The now completed  #12 Jolly Machine.

The complete #12 Jolly Machine showing the Bracket & 3.5mm Audio Socket.

Crazy A.I.T.S. in Melbourne

There's a special Tattoo Show coming to Melbourne in early November called Crazy A.I.T.S.
Reading through all the available info, it's going to quite an event.
The days, dates & times are:

• Friday       2nd November    2.00pm - 11.00pm
• Saturday   3rd November    12 noon - 11.00pm
• Sunday     4th November     12 noon - 7.00pm

So decided to treat Marie & myself to a couple of the VIP Passes.
We're looking forward to catching up with some old friends & the possibility of making some new ones too.

Machine Building2...tune & run-in

Lots been happening & although it's been awhile since posting anything, I haven't been idol.


Are we there yet..are we there yet..?
At present, all 12 of the Batch 2 Jolly Machines are fully assembled, having been Soldered & Shimmed just like all of those Hugo Machines from Batch 1.

Ten of those Jolly Machines have already been fine tuned & are now currently being run-in by the
guys at Eternal Ink in Berwick.  (Please note the Studio name change!)

What about the other two..?
Those remaining two Jolly Machines require the "Aussie Old School" 3.5mm Audio connection instead of
the current standard spring style of Clip Cord.
This kind of "speciality item" has been mention previously in an earlier Blog post here.

Being that the Jolly Frames are a totally new Frame, I'd not had the opportunity to make any Brackets for this particular option, which meant I couldn't finalise their assembly for the tuning & run-in.
The design for the Bracket is simple enough, so I'll be making up a number of them this week.


So for those of you with Orders for Batch 2...expect an email from me within the coming weeks.