"commercial" packing - auto fill and capping?

[DaveB]

My wife was asking me about automatic bottling equipment and how much it would cost to make our packing a smoother process. My understanding is that those lines can cost 10s of thousands but I did some looking anyway.

I think I'm going to invest in a Automatic Filling Valve (http://www.leaderevaporator.com/p-3-fill-stop-automatic-filling-valve.aspx) from Leader this year and that should help. I was looking at the capper on this four head filler and capper (http://www.fillers.com/benchtop%204%20head%20overflow%20filling%20machine s.htm) and was wondering if I could retro fit an old drill press or put some adapter on a dremel to tighten the caps. Any suggestions on what might work?

I'm wondering what folks do here to automate their packing process. Does anyone do any "large scale" packing? We do several large packs throughout the year - We pack what we need for farmers markets and online sales all at once, then at another time we pack bulk containers for restaurants and then a couple other times for some retail clients. We currently heat up the syrup, then one person fills the container while the other person caps the container. I'm thinking that the auto fill and rotary capper might help speed up that process. Any one do this differently?

Dave

[SeanD]

The Maple Guys make a Sensaflo bottling system that they designed themselves and it is patent pending. It uses a laser to sense the top of the liquid and knows when to turn on and shut off. You just put the jug underneath and it fills it for you in a few seconds. It's $1,500, but it sounds like that might be in your price range.

Here's a link to a video of it in action: http://www.mapleguys.com/index.php?item=387&ret=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mapleguys.com%2Findex.php%3Fp age%3D1%26category%3D5

As far as capping, I think a dremel or drill press will over-torque your caps. If you want to go automatic you should use something with a clutch like a screw gun. It's hard to (cheaply) replace the unique human ability to feel threads catch and tighten. Besides, if you go with an automatic bottler, filling and capping becomes a one-person job.

Sean

[DaveB]

The Maple Guys make a Sensaflo bottling system that they designed themselves and it is patent pending. It uses a laser to sense the top of the liquid and knows when to turn on and shut off. You just put the jug underneath and it fills it for you in a few seconds. It's $1,500, but it sounds like that might be in your price range.

As far as capping, I think a dremel or drill press will over-torque your caps. If you want to go automatic you should use something with a clutch like a screw gun. It's hard to (cheaply) replace the unique human ability to feel threads catch and tighten. Besides, if you go with an automatic bottler, filling and capping becomes a one-person job.


Hi Sean, Thanks for the link. I'd have to think about that one and see if the auto start is worth $1,200. The Leader one involves pushing a start button but automatically starts. I do like the auto start though. I wish I had $1,500!

Good point on the capper. I would want to make sure that the drill press or dremel attachment had a clutch so it would not over tighten the cap. I think it could be done...This site (http://www.totalpacks.com/bottling_equipment/bottle_capper_manual.html) has something similar to what I was thinking. I was thinking you could place the cap on, place the capper over it and when it was tight enough, the clutch would stop the over spin. One person grabs the bottle and fills it while the other caps and puts it in a box.

[Haynes Forest Products]

The capper I saw at a wholesaler was a air driven so you could dial it down. I was playing around with a cordless drill with clutch and a small cone so differant cap sizes would fit. The dial clutch worked fine but it also works like an impact driver if you sit and hold it on the cap and let the clotch chatter it can over tighten. The trick is set it and be consistant. As the cap heats up it will act differantly. Fill bottle screw on cap tighten and leave alone. Putting a screw gun on one of those cheap drill presses that you use a drill on is not all that bad of an idea. Set it up so when you lower the drill it turns the drill on and vise versa

[DaveB]

I was playing around with a cordless drill with clutch and a small cone so differant cap sizes would fit.

Where did you get the cone? I'm wondering if it was made out of rubber or something sticky if it would work better.

I was looking at a drill stand on my way home from work that I was thinking might work.

I'm just trying to make the work as easy as possible for my wife and I. I'm sure that there are others out there that do a lot of packing so I'm interested in hearing what others might do of if they just do it like we currently do.

Dave

[Haynes Forest Products]

I made the cone and glued rubber in it so I cant remember where it is:mad:

[3rdgen.maple]

I think by the time you put the bottle under the drill press and put a cap in the holder on the drill press then reach up and turn it on then lower the handle to cap it then raise the handle and then take the bottle out you could have put 4 caps on by hand. You are trying to speed up a hand operated job by using more hand tools and hand movements to do it. Unless you go to a fully automated bottling line with capper it makes no sense to me.

[sapman]

Seems like I remember from years ago seeing an auto cap tightener in the Leader catalog. Think it was pneumatic driven. Speed isn't my concern, but recently when I'm doing a bunch, I get a good blister on the inside of my thumb. Last one got infected before healing.

I like the Mapleguys bottler. But I'd want two of them going to keep things moving. I have two of the Leader fill-stops, running simultaneously. They work out well, but occasionally the wire gets condensation while filling and shuts off prematurely.

[maplwrks]

It takes longer to fill the containers then to put the caps on. If I was trying to speed up the process, I would concentrate on being able to fill multiple containers, and spin the caps on by hand. Another thing to consider--caps can be over tightened, I feel the only way to know if a cap is on correctly, is to put them on by hand. I know that the caps can cause blisters and can be rugged on the hands, try using the cotton gloves that have rubber on the palms of them, they may make it a little easier.

[DaveB]

Good points everyone!

I was thinking that packing two containers at once would probably do more than the capping unit. I could do that for $600 and just press the button for each. That might be the way to start making things more efficient.

I use a slightly dampened paper towel to tighten caps. I usually put it on hand tight with my left and then fully tighten with the paper towel in my right.

3rdGen, I was thinking that the drill would already be on or the press would have a mechanism to turn it on. I'd also have some kind of jig where the bottle would just fit in and you'd place the cap on the bottle (just as I do now) pull the lever down and wait for the clutch to kick in and let go. It was the video (http://www.fillers.com/videos/FOFBENCHTOP.wmv) of the capper unit on real packing line that gave me the idea. It seemed quicker than doing it by hand.

[ennismaple]

Come on - are you guys making maple syrup or knitting? By the end of the season your hands should be so tough and calloused you can dunk them in boiling syrup! Man up, Buttercup!!!

Just kidding - it does get hard on the fingers after a while, especially the metal containers because they get so hot quickly and the caps are smaller and have the dimpled edge. Cotton gloves work well as do rubberized ones. Blisters do happen - especially when filling a 35 gallon drum's worth in small containers.

After seeing this post and watching the Sensafill video yesterday I emailed Mapleguys about the system. It does work great on plastic jugs but does not work (yet) on metal containers. For glass they are coming up with a white plastic ring that needs to go over the bottle neck to reflect the laser.

[Haynes Forest Products]

They need a neck locator that positions the bottle in the same place everytime. The locator will act as the reflective ring. It only needs to be 1/2 a ring to both locate the bottle and act as the reflector.:)

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Sometimes Bascoms had used cappers for sale.