D-3 Red Skull & Arrow Heavy Duty Frame Tattoo Coil Machine is High in quality and low in price this is best for most of the tattoo artist's . A tattoo machine is a hand-held device generally used to create a tattoo, a permanent marking of the skin with indelible ink. Modern tattoo machines use electromagnetic coils to move an armature bar up and down. Connected to the armature bar is a barred needle grouping that pushes ink into the skin.