When you work in a business that uses liquid-filling machinery to package products, you know that having the process be as automated as possible is the goal. For instance, having volumetric fillers help fill liquids into containers at an even, consistent fill level, while cooling conveyers help molten products cool off more quickly than traditional conveyor belts. One of the last steps in automating the process for a lot of businesses is the capping or sealing of the product. Many businesses choose to do at least part of this process manually, from filling the hopper of caps to the actual capping of the containers. Not only is this a tedious process, it takes a lot of time that can be spent focusing on other aspects of your business. Thankfully, several different machines can help mitigate the difficulties that come along with manual capping.
Cap Elevators
Cap elevators allow caps to be stored until they’re ready to be used. Rather than keeping the caps in a box somewhere, this automatic elevator hopper is designed to supply caps to an automatic capping machine down the line. The machine is activated when the hopper to a capping machine is getting low. It is designed to feed a wide range of different-sized caps, from 10mm to 110mm, so is a versatile choice when you want to automate the first part of the capping process—the actual act of finding the caps.
Cap Sorters
Cap sorters are a helpful machine that helps position caps so they are facing the correct direction when the capping machine picks them up to be used. Cap sorters are available in an elevator setup, which helps bring up a supply of caps to the capping machine, or a vibratory setup, which works by shaking the surface that the caps are on until the cap switches to being positioned correctly. These machines ensure that the capping machines can do their job efficiently once the caps are ready to be placed.
Capping Machines
Finally, the capping machines themselves are what place the caps onto each container. For these types of machines, there are four options – spindle cappers, chuck cappers, snap cappers and wheel pluggers. Spindle cappers spin the lids onto the product as the container sits stationary underneath a station. Chuck cappers also spin caps onto containers, but this machine is designed to keep the products moving at a consistent pace, so the lid is placed on the container and then the container runs through the machine, which has lid tighteners along the top. Snap cappers snap the caps onto the container tightly, and vertical wheel pluggers are used for containers that require plugs rather than lids or caps.
Saving time is easy when you use capping machines from HMPL. Don’t stress yourself out by continuing to manually cap your products. Instead, use these machines to automate the process, and you’ll be surprised at how much more you can get done!
