Question on impulse sealers

[TBandCW]

Wow! Great price on that heat sealer!

 

[dixiedragon]

Now I'm tempted. I'm actually considering using the giant one at work - we have what I guess is a giant impulse sealer - a hot wire on a long arm with a conveyor belt that goes into a heat tunnel.

 

[TBandCW]

Thank you all for the great information. I bought this sealer: http://www.ebay.com/itm/351529696767" It works great with this wrap that I also got: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0083BRXX0/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20 I'm glad I took the advice here and went with the 12" one. Perfect size.
The shrink bags were driving me insane and I had several people tell me they couldn't smell my soaps even though they were open on one end. The polyolefin lets you smell right through it!

Have you tried the polyolefin yet? Can you really smell thru it?

 

[grassyriver]

Have you tried the polyolefin yet? Can you really smell thru it?

Yes I have! It takes about a day for the scent to really come through though. It's not as strong as just smelling a naked bar, but you can clearly smell the scent.

 

[penelopejane]

Oh, I understand now. If your goal is to have a sealer for dedicated use with shrink wrap, the round wire is probably best, because it will get hot along a narrow line to efficiently melt and cut the shrink film in one step. For larger volume packaging or if you expect to use the sealer only with heat shrink film, this would be the machine to get. You would be able to use it to just seal other types of plastic bags by reducing the heat interval, but the narrow seal from a wire will not be as sturdy as a wider seal from a ribbon.

For hobbyist or general home use when you want the machine to seal a variety of plastic including shrink film, I think a flat ribbon sealer is the more versatile choice. It makes a wider seal (2 mm to 5 mm wide) that will be more reliable when you're looking to seal a bag so it will remain securely closed. A flat ribbon sealer can also be used to melt and cut shrink wrap -- a 2 mm flat ribbon sealer is what I use. I just set the heat interval higher so the film melts completely through.

ETA -- I'm not quite sure why they're saying you can't cut shrink wrap film with a ribbon sealer -- that puzzles me because mine works fine to seal and cut shrink wrap bags. (Here's where I found that mention: http://www.uspackagingandwrapping.c...e-Sealers/Hand-Impulse-Sealers-Flat-Wire.html )

I got exactly this brand new impulse sealer 12 inch for $27 AUD delivered on eBay. Amazing! Couldn't resist it.

 

[RamenParty]

I know this thread is a couple months old but I found it searching for ideas from a total newb looking on airtight ideas for bath bombs and whatnot. For right now I'm practicing, getting a recipe down, but eventually I wish to sell online. I have never heard of an impulse sealer before so when I came upon this I was intrigued. For anyone else who is having trouble imagining how it works, this made sense for me.



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