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Sealing machines

Hand Sealing Machine

One bench machine, eight names, and a buyer who is usually asking about a bag rather than a machine. This page covers the whole family - what a hand sealing machine actually does, which version suits your volume, and the two things that decide the answer.

A hand sealing machine closes a plastic bag with heat. The bag mouth is laid between two jaws, the bar is pressed down, an element heats for a moment, the two layers of film melt together, and the bag is shut. It is the simplest packaging machine most units ever buy and for a very large number of Indian businesses it is the only one.

It is sold under whatever name the trade uses. A snack or namkeen packer calls it a packet sealing machine. A courier or garment unit calls it a poly bag sealing machine. A masala, spice or pharmaceutical packer calls it a pouch sealing machine. An engineer or a purchase department writes impulse sealer, because that is how the element works. They are, in most conversations, the same machine.

Where they genuinely differ is not the name but the format - hand, foot, table top or continuous band - and that difference is decided by your volume and by whether the operator needs both hands free. Everything below is written to get you to the right one of those four rather than to sell you the biggest.

The two questions that decide the machine

Almost every enquiry we get about a hand sealing machine can be answered from two pieces of information, and most enquiries contain neither.

The first is the bag: what it is made of and how wide it is across the mouth, measured flat. Film is the whole problem. Thin polythene, a heavy liner and a laminated pouch each need different heat and different dwell, and a machine that seals one may not close another at all. The width matters because the seal bar has to be longer than your widest bag, or that bag has to be sealed in two overlapping passes - which looks bad and leaks.

The second is the count: how many bags a day, and whether they arrive in a steady flow or in bursts. That single number moves you between the four formats faster than any other consideration.

  • Dozens a day, one hand free - a hand sealer on the bench is correct and anything more is money spent on a problem you do not have.
  • The bag needs both hands to hold - a foot-operated machine, because the operator holds and positions while the pedal does the sealing.
  • Steady work through a full shift - a table top machine, built to be used continuously rather than occasionally.
  • Bags queuing for the machine - a continuous band sealer, where bags feed through on a belt and the machine stays hot instead of heating and cooling for each one.

Impulse or constant heat - and why it matters to you

An impulse sealer heats a wire only for the instant the jaws are shut, seals, then lets go. Nothing on the machine is hot when it is idle, it draws power only during the cycle, and there is no warm-up before the first bag of the morning. That is why this is the format on almost every packing bench in India.

A continuous band sealer works the other way. Heated blocks stay hot and the bag passes between moving belts, so the seal is made while the bag keeps travelling. That is what makes volume possible, and it is also why a band sealer takes a few minutes to reach temperature and is not sensible for twenty bags a day.

There is a third arrangement, a hot bar or constant-heat sealer, used where a thicker or laminated material needs sustained heat rather than a pulse. If your pouch has been refusing to seal properly on an impulse machine, that is usually the conversation to have.

What it will not do

A heat sealer closes a bag. Stating what it does not do saves more wasted purchases than any specification we could publish.

  • It does not fill or weigh. The bag arrives packed.
  • It does not remove air. Vacuum and gas flushing are separate machines.
  • It does not seal every material. Paper, foil without a sealant layer, and some recycled films will not close reliably - send a sample rather than assume.
  • A longer seal bar does not seal a thicker film. Seal length and film thickness are two different limits, and buying a wider machine does not solve a heavy-film problem.

The names this machine is sold under

If you were quoted one of these and asked for another, you are almost certainly looking at the same machine. Each page below is written for the trade that uses that name, so the examples and the film problems match what you actually pack.

Why no price is printed on this page

Because the honest price depends on the seal length, the format and the film, and a number posted without those three would be a number for a machine that is not yours. Send the width of your widest bag measured flat, what the bag is made of, and how many you seal in a day. A price comes back against those.

If you can, send a photograph of the bag or post us a sample. With a laminated pouch that is the only way anybody can tell you honestly whether a machine will close it.

Questions we are asked about this

Is a hand sealing machine the same as an impulse sealer?

In Indian trade use, usually yes. 'Impulse' describes how the element works - it heats only while the jaws are closed - and 'hand' describes how it is operated. If one supplier quoted you an impulse sealer and you asked for a hand sealer, you are looking at the same bench machine.

What seal length should I order?

Measure your widest bag flat across the mouth and choose a seal bar longer than that. Ordering to your average bag is the mistake we see most often, because the wide ones then have to be sealed in two overlapping passes.

Will it seal a laminated pouch?

Some laminates seal on an impulse machine and some need sustained heat. Send a sample or a clear photograph of the pouch with your enquiry - the answer comes from the actual film, not from its description.

How many bags a day before I should look at a band sealer?

When bags start waiting for the machine rather than the machine waiting for bags. Tell us your daily count and what is in the bag and we will say which side of that line you are on, including when the cheaper machine is the right answer.

Do you build these machines at Faridabad?

The band, foot, table top and hot bar sealers are Fulcrum Infratech catalogue models, supplied, installed and serviced by Fulcrum Infratech Pvt. Ltd., Faridabad. PackForge Industries is a division of Fulcrum Infratech, which is why both catalogues sit on one site.

Send us your bag, not a model number

The width of your widest bag measured flat, what the bag is made of, and how many you seal in a day. That is enough for a straight answer — including the times when the cheaper machine is the right one.