Tippmann Boss - the bottom line...

[UKRay]

Having looked at all the previous Tippman Boss posts and bored 'cousin' Luke silly by asking daft questions, I am hoping the forum can help me make or break the decision to shell out a small fortune and ship a Tippmann Boss to the UK.

I work almost exclusively in 10/12 oz leather (approx 4mm thick). Mostly russet tooling leather and waxy bridle leather and occasionally 2-3mm soft leather. Whilst my hand sewing is more than adequate for purpose, I can't say I get a heap of pleasure from it and felt the Boss might offer some advantages.

Which brings me to the point of this topic: advantages and disadvantages are very personal. Some people seem to hate the Boss whilst others love it. Is this down to the way the machine is used/expectations of the machine/machine performance/longevity/ cost of ownership (repairs and the like). Why is there so much difference of opinion?

Personal experience of stitching two or three thicknesses of 4mm with a Tippman Boss would be appreciated along with any suggestions, thoughts or comments about use and ownership - the more long winded the better! Over to you... ..and I really appreciate your time. Ray Hatley

[esantoro]

Having looked at all the previous Tippman Boss posts and bored 'cousin' Luke silly by asking daft questions, I am hoping the forum can help me make or break the decision to shell out a small fortune and ship a Tippmann Boss to the UK.

I work almost exclusively in 10/12 oz leather (approx 4mm thick). Mostly russet tooling leather and waxy bridle leather and occasionally 2-3mm soft leather. Whilst my hand sewing is more than adequate for purpose, I can't say I get a heap of pleasure from it and felt the Boss might offer some advantages.

Which brings me to the point of this topic: advantages and disadvantages are very personal. Some people seem to hate the Boss whilst others love it. Is this down to the way the machine is used/expectations of the machine/machine performance/longevity/ cost of ownership (repairs and the like). Why is there so much difference of opinion?

Personal experience of stitching two or three thicknesses of 4mm with a Tippman Boss would be appreciated along with any suggestions, thoughts or comments about use and ownership - the more long winded the better! Over to you... ..and I really appreciate your time. Ray Hatley

Somebody around these parts was selling a Highlead cylinder arm in the UK for a very good price.

[Randy Cornelius]

The Boss does a good job sewing 5oz and up. But caused be to use bad words when trying to sew anything lighter than that. If just does not want to sew light weight leather very well. You have to keep making adjustments. There are a lot of good elect. machines out there for just a little more money. You will be well glad if you spend a little more and get a better machine. I have an Artisen and love it. The Boss is dusty in the corner of the shop now.

Randy

[bruce johnson]

Ray,

I would expect that you could get the Boss shipped to England less expensively than a motorized machine, and that may be a factor. I had one of the cast iron Boss machines and liked it. For the weight leather you are talking, should do the job. Mine sewed a nice stitch, and could sew leather corners onto 1" felt pads all day without skipping

Pluses - somewhat portable, can't be knocked out of time, control for every stitch, can't go too fast and run off the end, they will rebuild them for a song, easy to work on, you can train your kid to run it in about 3 minutes, good resale value.

Minuses - you power it with one hand and only have one hand to hold and guide the piece, throat depth is small, tiring and boring for long runs, good for 138 and up thread

[whinewine]

I like mine, once I figured out its limitations. Shortly after I got mine, I tried to adjust it to sew light weight leather & ended up getting it all out of adjustment. The support staff at Tippmann are superb & helped me get it back into adjustment & I've kept it set that way ever since. It'll sew 4 oz & up++ consistently with no other major adjustments. Mine is an aluminum model that was a new (but out of warranty) machine & came with the bench, extra bobbins, the edge guide, 2 different presser feet & some other extras, all for a reasonable price.

(For the very lightweight stuff & garment leather that I occasionally and rarely need to sew, I picked up an old model 6270 Viking Husqvarna which absolutely will handle that- 2 speed, lots of torque and inexpensive, built to last, all metal.)

Edited June 23, 2008 by whinewine

[Trevor]

Ray.

Heres my opinion.

Go and find a Juki LU563 large bobin walking foot flat bed or and old Pfaff cylinder arm waliking foot and keep away from the tippman.

If you want to sew heavy stuff like 6mm and heavier have a good look at the Artisan toro range. Well priced and good at heavy duty Veg tanned stitching jobs and very adjustable.

Cheers

Trevor

"way down Under"

[Luke Hatley]

OK COUSIN...........NOW WHAT DO YOU THINK........

[Ian]

I have a Tippman Aerostich which gave me no end of grief until I finally got it adjusted. Now, I like it a lot, except for the noise from the compressor. Don't think I'd like the Boss, because I need both hands for a lot of what I sew and cranking the handle seems like a slow process.

Ian

[ClayB]

I think if you take the time to figure out how to adjust the boss properly, you will probably like it. If you are easily frustrated with mechanical things that dont just work, you probably wont like it. I havent taken the time to learn how to make mine work cuz I just dont need it that much, but I have had a lot of offers from people that really like theirs to help me figure it out.

[Michael Sheldon]

There are a lot of good elect. machines out there for just a little more money. You will be well glad if you spend a little more and get a better machine. I have an Artisen and love it. The Boss is dusty in the corner of the shop now.

Randy

Really? 'cause I can't find anything that will handle heavy leather for less than twice the price...