REFUEL CHARGING DOCK
Power up your next tattoo session with the FK Iron's Refuel Charging Dock. This charging dock ensures all your PowerBolt battery packs are always primed for action. Capable of simultaneously powering up two PowerBolts, this dock is an indispensable asset for extended sessions at the studio or other busy events. While one PowerBolt is in use, the others are ready at a moments notice, ensuring a seamless workflow during long tattoo sessions. Featuring magnets and an anti- slip rubber base, this dock ensures you can freely charge your battery packs anywhere you go. The Refuel Charging Dock also comes complete with LED indicators, offering a red light during the charging process and a green light when you've reached full charge. The product is currently in production and is for sale on FK Irons' website here.
Design Scope: The Refuel was the first product I identified, proposed, and brought to market at FK Irons, originating from a gap I observed firsthand while walking the floor of a tattoo convention in Nashville. Artists on the FK ProTeam had no effective way to manage their PowerBolt packs during shows, relying on extension cords and generic USB cables while batteries rolled off trays, got scratched, or went missing entirely. Recognizing both the functional problem and the brand opportunity it represented, I led the project from concept through production, covering industrial design, prototyping, packaging, and product visualization in collaboration with the engineering team. The central design challenge was building a single dock that worked cleanly across two generations of the PowerBolt, each with a different interface, which shaped the form and drove the decision to integrate the light matrix directly into the dock. The defining move of the exterior came from that same constraint: a cut across the front face that keeps the PowerBolt II screen unobstructed while giving the profile a sense of direction and visual intention.
Role: Industrial Design, Prototyping, Packaging & Product Visualization.
Engineering Team: Fernando Diaz & Christian Bonomo
Gap In The Ecosystem
Attending a tattoo convention is a unique and chaotic experience. Thousands of people arrive over a weekend to get tattooed while artists work to grow their reputations and showcase their skills. One day, while walking the rows of a convention in Nashville, I noticed many of the FK Irons ProTeam artists struggling with cramped booths with machines, equipment, and cables scattered everywhere. Many travel with multiple machines to stay prepared for whatever piece comes their way while attending these shows. What surprised me most, was that they had no effective way to charge their Powerbolt battery packs. Some ran an extension cord with multiple PowerBolts plugged in; others relied on a portable power supply. The result was the same with PowerBolts scattered across surfaces, getting scratched, rolling off sanitized trays, or going missing entirely. The consequences went beyond clutter because a dead or missing battery means reduced session time, interrupted flow, and a less professional setup in front of a client.
The PowerBolt had no dedicated charging solution for their premium tattoo machine. Artists were left improvising with USB cables and generic power banks. I was a workaround that felt inconsistent with the quality and intentionality of the rest of the line. Beyond the functional problem, there was a real brand opportunity. A charging dock lives on the work surface all session long, visible to clients, fellow artists, and anyone walking the convention floor. It was a chance to complete the collection and give artists the necessary tools to create works of art.
Designing For Two Generations of Powerbolts
The Refuel's form started with a constraint rather than an aesthetic direction. The PowerBolt line spans two generations with fundamentally different interfaces with the original PB and PB+ use a light matrix while the PBII and PBII+ feature a screen. To unify the experience across both generations, a light matrix was built into the dock itself, giving artists one consistent read on charge status regardless of which PowerBolt was in use. The last detail came from the idea that tattoo artists work on metal surgical trays and use mechanic , so magnets were added to the base to let the Refuel anchor to any metal surface and stay exactly where it was put.
Early exploration focused on understanding how both batteries sat within the form and how to keep their interfaces fully visible during charging. This led to the defining move of the design: a cut across the front face that prevents contact with the Powerbolt II screen while also catching light and giving the profile a sense of direction.
Packaging
The packaging used the same branding style and type of boxing experience as the machines. The packaging informs users the compatibility of the charging dock and safely houses the dock during transit.
