My Tippmann Boss Leather Sewing Machine
Copyright 2006 by James
P. Riser
The Tippmann Boss is a hand powered sewing machine
designed for sewing thick materials like leather, nylon webbing,
rubber, etc. I have mounted mine on a homemade bench so that I
might sit as I sew and freely move the machine around where it
is needed. Since I took the above picture, I have added a thread
storage shelf below the bench top.
The Boss is powered by the hand lever on the right
side of the machine.
The "hand brake" on this lever is squeezed
to raise the foot.
The thread size shown being used here is 207.
The Tippmann Boss is a needle feed machine.
Shown at the left is the heavy needle guide. Also shown
is the open loop foot.
The leather being sewn here is 1/4" thick.
Notice the roller edge guide. This is an optional,
but useful, item.
Here is an example of the lockstitch made by The Boss.
Below are pictures of stitching on some old dry
leather scraps done as examples:
1/4" Thick ...
Top surface
Dried
out bottom surface
Top surface 
Bottom surface 
3/8" Thick ...
Top surface
Bottom surface 
3/4" Thick ...
Top surface
Side view
Bottom
surface
I am quite pleased with the stitching on all thicknesses.
The bobbins are a fairly good size; but with very heavy
thread, the bobbin seems to empty quickly.
The bobbin case.
The roller guide in position and
swung out of the way. 
Keeping with the manual theme of the machine, I decided
to use an old
hand drill for winding my bobbins.
I have a left, centter, and right foot in addition
to the loop foot shown above.
Small and large needles. 
An assortment of needles available
for The Boss.
Yes, it will work on thick cloth too. Here are 9 layers
of a velvet type material sewn by The Boss.
