Response from MINIPRESS:

A unique automatic equipment for filling hard gelatin capsules. The assembled capsules are poured into a common hopper, the machine then orients the capsules into one position and fills the ring shaped cells. The capsules are oriented with their lower parts facing downwards. A vacuum pump is used to separate the capsule into 2 parts. In manual mode, the mold with the bottom halves of the capsules is placed under the powder hopper. The hopper has a screw feed of powder into the capsule. This allows for additional compaction of the powder in the capsule. The weight of all capsules ends up being the same. After all capsules are filled with powder in the mold, the upper and lower parts of the capsule are joined together. Then the finished capsules are poured into the tray. It is possible to download a video and view the entire cycle of operation of the automatic capsule filling machine.
There are 2 modifications in the capsule machines you need. They are a full automatic (what you saw in the video) and a semi-automatic. You can familiarize yourself with the work of the semi-automatic machine at the link.
Our operating experience and opinion on automatic machines will pass on to you as a description of the disadvantages.
1. automatic machines are good to use if you make only one size of capsules on them. The setup process is very delicate and changing from one capsule size to another requires a complete stop of the machine, disassembly of parts, setup, etc. This can be very time consuming and it can be difficult to set up the machine for long periods of time. Ideally one machine for one type of capsule.

2. If you remember the first video, everything happens very quickly there – filling the capsule, combining them and pushing them out. Naturally, the process of filling the capsules themselves with powder takes seconds of time. And this leads to uneven filling of the capsules with powder and inaccurate dosage. The particle size distribution of the powder is also a major problem. For automatic machines it is desirable to use micro-granulated powders with high bulkiness. Conventional powders with medium and low bulkiness are only problems, not production. To turn ordinary powders into microgranules requires the purchase of granulation equipment, mastering and selection of granulation technology for each of your new type of powders. And believe us – time, money and a sea of difficulties.

3. It is worth noting the difficulties associated with the quality of gelatin capsules. Automatic machines are very demanding on the quality and size of the gelatin capsules you want to use. During the capsule production process, the manufacturers themselves may deviate from the dimensions and sell such capsules to wholesalers. You will not be able to use such capsules. Also, if stored poorly, initially normal gelatin capsules may absorb moisture from the air and become deformed. Placing such deformed capsules in an automatic machine will cause the machine to jam, requiring disassembly of the equipment and adjustment.

4 Since the automatic machine is very fast, it is necessary to check the quality and weight of the capsules received (quality control). In each capsule powder enters individually and in case of clogging of powder (or large particles) of the powder supply channel, weight failure is possible. It is very difficult to fight this, you need to periodically turn off the machine and check the powder channels.
Very often people think that they buy equipment that should work quickly, but in fact downtime and adjustment eventually make the performance of the machine at the level of semi-automatic.

Now we want to give you some information about the semi-automatic machine. In essence, its advantage is that it lacks all the disadvantages of an automatic machine.

1. The whole process of powder filling with capsules is divided into 3 independent operations.
a) automatic sorting of empty capsules into the mold;
b) filling the capsule body with powder;
c) alignment of the capsule lid with the capsule body and snapping.

The process of automatic sorting of empty capsules into the mold is quite fast (you will see it on the video), at this stage the operator can always see a defective capsule and replace it by hand with another one. This is fast and does not lead to breakage and equipment stoppage.

Answer from MINIPRESS:

The next step is to fill the capsule body (the long half) with powder.
A semi-automatic takes significantly more seconds to fill the capsule than an automatic. And the principle of powder feeding is completely different. There is a large hopper, powder is poured into it, not microgranules, then a screw (screw) presses the powder down, the hopper neck approaches the mold and presses the powder into the capsules.
forcibly. I.e. the powder is not self-dumped, but is forced into the capsules. In this case the mold under the hopper neck rotates 360 degrees for a certain time, thus each capsule gets the same amount of powder. Sometimes our customers run the powder under the hopper neck for 2 laps and this allows us to press some powder into the capsules.

The screw hopper saves from buying a granulator, from granulation technology, from many problems with powder preparation. Also screw hopper is a guaranteed equal weight of powder in capsules, no air voids in the powder, etc.

After the mold with the capsule body is filled with powder, the operator puts on the half of the mold with the capsules and aligns the capsules by snapping them together.

To speed up the operation and increase productivity, we advise customers to have 2-3 molds for each capsule size. If you put 2 or 3 operators at the semi-automatic machine, you can make 20000-30000 capsules.

The first operator fills the molds with empty capsules, separates them and passes them to the second operator. When the molds are free of finished capsules, again fills them with empty capsules.
The second operator inserts the molds under the screw hopper and once filled, combines and snaps the capsules together.

We hope you find the above information useful.

Contact us after reviewing it – we will discuss the details of your order.