Table Top Sealing Machine

The signs you have outgrown a light machine

Buyers usually arrive at this format for one of three reasons, and all three are worth recognising early.

• Elements failing often - a light machine cycled all day wears its element far faster than the same machine used occasionally.
• Seals drifting through the day - a setting that was right in the morning is burning through by afternoon as the machine heats up overall.
• Two machines instead of one - a bench that has bought a second light sealer to keep up has already spent what the right machine would have cost.

Consistency, and why it is worth paying for

On a bench doing a few dozen bags, an inconsistent seal is a nuisance. On a bench doing several hundred, it is a quality problem that reaches your customer, and it is the reason food, pharmaceutical and export packers move up to this format sooner than their volume alone would suggest.

A seal that is straight, even and the same on every pack is read as a properly made product. It is one of the few packaging details a customer actually notices.

Where it sits relative to the other formats

A table top machine is still hand-operated, so the bag must be holdable with one hand. If it is not, the foot-operated format is the right answer even at the same volume - the two decisions are independent.

And it is still one bag at a time. Once bags queue, the band sealer is the machine, whatever the build quality of the bench machine.

Consumables and keeping it running

The element and the PTFE strip are consumed by use, and on a machine running all shift they are consumed faster. Keeping one of each on the shelf is what turns a failure into a five-minute job.

Ask what the element and the strip cost before you buy the machine. On a bench machine that runs daily, that number matters more over three years than the purchase price does.

Fixing it down, and why that matters

A machine built for shift work is heavier than a light counter sealer, and buyers assume that means it stays put. On a busy bench it does not.

Sealing a few hundred bags a day involves pushing against the machine several hundred times, and any machine that is free to slide will slide. It creeps towards the edge of the bench, it turns slowly out of square, and the operator compensates by holding the bag at an angle - which is how a machine that was sealing perfectly in January is producing crooked seals by March with nothing wrong with it.

Fixing it to the bench, or standing it on a mat that will not move, takes ten minutes and removes a fault that is otherwise very hard to diagnose. It is also the reason a wobbly or flexing bench is worth attending to before the machine is blamed.

If your bench is light, or shared, or has to be cleared at the end of a shift, say so - it changes what is sensible to recommend.