A cup filling and sealing machine loads preformed cups, fills them, places or applies a lid and seals it. Mactec builds three at its Sayreville, New Jersey headquarters: the compact MTMB-24 rotary monoblock, the multi-station MTMB-60, set up for four cups per index, and the Single-Cup Sealer for coffee and tea.
Cups customers bring us
Small oral-solution cups with foil lids, reagent cups closed with an aluminum seal, sauce cups in several sizes, small liquid cups with printed lids, unit-dose cups for 503B pharmacies, and single-serve coffee and tea. In almost every project the first question is the same: does the cup arrive at the machine already made? These cup sealing machines work with preformed cups from your cup supplier.
Three cup filling machines compared
| Specification | MTMB-24 | MTMB-60 | Single-Cup Sealer |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it does | Rotary filling with application-specific closing, including cup sealing | Multi-station filling, lid placement and sealing | Single-cup filling and sealing, with filter-placement integration |
| Containers | Cups, tubes, vials or small bottles | Cups and other rigid containers; four cups per index | Compatible coffee and tea single cups |
| Product | Liquid or dry | Liquid or dry | Coffee and tea |
| Container loading | Manual or automatic | Manual magazine loading option | Confirm with Mactec |
| Footprint | 914 mm square frame | 72-inch square frame | Confirm with Mactec |
| Electrical requirements | 110 VAC at 10 amps | 220 VAC at 40 amps | Confirm with Mactec |
Specifications are application-dependent and are confirmed in Mactec’s proposal.
How a rotary cup filler works
A monoblock is one machine that brings several operations together around a rotary table. The table indexes, or steps, so each cup moves from station to station: container loading, filling, lid placement, sealing and discharge. Presence sensors, vision inspection, printing and a discharge conveyor can be added as stations. Cycle rates are not finished-package output, so format, configuration and acceptance conditions are confirmed in the proposal.
Lids, fill accuracy and cup sizes
- Lids. Pre-cut lids or lidding from a roll, printed or plain; the heat-seal coating has to match the cup material. Lot numbers, expiration dates and other variable data can be printed in line.
- Fill. Give the target fill by volume or by weight for each cup size, the tolerance you accept, and how you will measure it.
- Cup sizes. One machine often handles two or three cup sizes, with change parts or tooling for each size. Tooling changes are designed to be quick, often taking minutes, depending on the machine, the tooling and the product.
Bottles, vials and tubes on the same platform
The MTMB-24’s closing station can also torque caps onto bottles and vials, insert tips or crimp tubes, so the same rotary platform works as a bottle filling and capping machine or a tube filler. See vial and bottle filling and capping machines and tube filling and sealing machines.
Formed cups instead of preformed?
If a shallow cavity formed from a roll of film would do the job, a form-fill-seal blister machine may fit: the NANO-XL and MT-150XL list liquids and powders among their applications, with published maximum forming depths of 16 mm and 19 mm. We would confirm suitability with your product and materials. Deep cups usually point toward preformed containers.
What to send us
- Cup samples or drawings for each size
- Product samples, or a description if samples are not practical
- Fill amount and tolerance for each size
- Lidding material: pre-cut or roll, printed or plain
- Variable data to print
- How cups will be loaded: by hand or automatically
- Target output in finished cups per hour or per shift
Mactec designs and builds every machine at its Sayreville, New Jersey headquarters, and offers factory acceptance testing you can witness, on-site installation and validation, IQ/OQ protocol support, operator training and spare parts stocked at the headquarters. Where practical, we run your samples on a Mactec machine before you commit. Customers include Bayer.
Related guides
- Cup Filling and Sealing: Preformed or Formed Cups?
- Choosing Monoblock Filling and Capping Equipment
- Which Filling Method for Small-Batch Liquids and Powders?
Discuss your project with Mactec
Request an equipment quote using the form below. You do not need a finished specification. If you are unsure where to begin, contact Mactec and describe the product and the package you have in mind.
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