What is a heat sealer and what are the different types available?

A heat sealer is a machine that uses heat to create a seal on a plastic bag or other types of plastic. Exactly which heat sealer is best for you depends on what you're sealing, the thickness of the plastic, the size of the item and any particular requirements you have. Below is a basic list of the types of heat sealers supplied by Get Packed and basic details about what makes them all different.

Impulse Heat Sealer / Desk Top Bag Sealer: A basic scissor action sealer that is available in a range of sealing lengths from 100mm through 1000mm. When the scissor arm is depressed on the plastic bag, or roll of poly tubing, it will weld the plastic together to form a seal. Some impulse heat sealers also have cutters to cut off excess plastic, or in the case of poly tubing you would be able to cut the bag length from the roll after sealing.

Clam Shell Heat Sealer: Used primarily when you have clam shell plastic food containers. Once the food or items are placed inside the clam shell container, you would use the hand held clam shell heat sealer to spot weld/seal around the container which not only seals it closed but prevents tampering and pilfering of the product.

Constant Heat Roller Sealer / Hand Wheel Sealer: Used by hand, this 9mm teflon coated heated roller is simply rolled over the plastic bag which then welds the plastic together creating a seal. Being a roller it can create round or curved seals and can even create a round or oval seal with a 57mm diameter. The heat is adjustable between 30-220 degrees Celsius.

Pedestal Heat Sealers: These are heat sealers that stand on a pedestal so that the user is standing. The Poly Tubing Foot Operated heat sealer comes with a dispenser to hold rolls of poly tubing. The Vertical foot operated heat sealers have adjustable heads so that the angle of the heat sealer can be adjusted to suit the angle of the bag (adjustable from horizontal to vertical). We also have a Foot Operated Constant Heat sealer where the heat comes from both the upper and lower jaws. That allows for thicker bags – and quicker production speeds.

Hand Held Portable Constant Heat Sealers: These are portable so that you take the heat sealer to the bag. There is the Furtura Portable heat sealer with both upper and lower jaws heated. The jaws are squeezed closed (by hand) which create the seal. The Hand Held Super Poly Sealer is available in seal lengths from 280mm to 630mm, making them great to seal large, heavy bags, especially as it can seal plastic up to 2 x 250um. This Super Poly Sealer will even seal closed Bubblewrap.

Desk Top L-Bar Heat Sealer: This is generally used when looking to shrink wrap products as opposed to bag products. Using shrink film, the L-Bar sealer will create an L-shaped seal on the plastic (2 sides), after which you would use a heat gun to shrink the plastic around the product, leaving a professionally finished package. This process is best understood when viewing the video (click on the link). 

Shrink A Pack: works much the same as the Desk Top L-Bar Sealer, but provides only a single seal using a scissor action - so an additional seal has to be made to complete the seal. With the Shrink A Pack the dispenser for the shrink film is included as well as the heat gun.

Automatic Heat Sealer: This is a heavy-duty bench top mounted heat sealer that can seal 2 x 200um thick film or bags. With the automatic heat sealer you can set a timer and a foot operation for more operator control. Different models are available with different length and width seals.

Band Sealer – Rotary Heat Sealer: Also known as a Continuous Band Sealer as it is an inline machine that heat seals the tops of bagged products that travel along a conveyor. The band sealer comes in a vertical or horizontal model. The vertical band sealer is for sealing upright bags such as coffee bags or stand-up pouches whilst the horizontal band sealer is for sealing products that are laid horizontally such as magazines or cards.