Used Capsule Filling Machines & Encapsulators

Three decisions narrow this category quickly: what goes in the capsule, how fast the line has to run, and whether the shell is two-piece or softgel. Fill material sets the dosing method. Powders and granules are dosed by tamping pin or dosator, pellets and beads by volumetric chamber, and liquids by pump into a shell that is then sealed. Output sets the machine class. Manual filling stations work a tray at a time, around 300 capsules per batch. Semi-automatic machines power the filling and closing while an operator moves the capsule rings between stations. Bench-scale and micro-dosing units run from 600 capsules per hour. Fully automatic machines split into intermittent-motion designs, which cover the middle of the range, and continuous-motion designs, which reach 200,000 capsules per hour on 48-station tooling.

Filling is one station in a longer line, which is why this category holds more than the fillers. Capsules leaving the filler carry powder on the outside, so a polisher with a brush, screen, or lamb's wool contact surface cleans them and rejects empties. Liquid and hygroscopic fills need a band of gelatin or HPMC at the cap-body seam, which is what a bander applies, and the band doubles as tamper evidence. Weight control runs in-process or downstream on a checkweigher, single-lane for development work and 10- or 16-lane for production. Changeover between capsule sizes is a tooling job rather than a machine job, so the dosing disks, segment plates, and sorting magazines that make a machine usable in a second size are worth pricing at the same time as the machine. Our parts division, PharmParts, stocks capsule filler change parts for Bosch, Elanco, IMA, MG2, Parke-Davis, and Torpac machines, including dosing disks, segments, dosators, sorting magazines, and capsule rings.

Model families recur here, and buyers search by them. On the filling side we handle Bosch GKF and DMW machines (the line is now branded Syntegon), IMA Zanasi 40F and Matic machines, MG2 Futura, G-series, and Planeta fillers, Capsugel Ultra, CFS, and Xcelodose systems, Dott. Bonapace & C. In-Cap machines, PAM Pharmaceuticals SA units, and Qualicaps LIQFIL liquid fillers. Manual stations come from Torpac, along with ProFiller change parts in sizes 0 through 3. Softgel work comes through as Technophar SGM machines and GIC Engineering Supra encapsulators. Downstream, checkweighers arrive as IMA Precisa, Bosch KKE, CI Electronics SADE, and Harro Hofliger KWS units, and polishers as Key International CP, CapPlus CPT, and Stokes 180-8 models.

Applications & Industries

• Pharmaceutical manufacturing: commercial capsule production where output and weight control drive the equipment choice, and where the filler, checkweigher, and polisher are usually specified together.
• Solid dosage production: capsules as an alternative to tablets for actives that compress poorly, and for pellet and micro-tablet fills that deliver modified release without a coating step.
• Nutraceutical and supplement production: high-volume runs of botanicals, vitamins, and minerals in two-piece capsules, and oil-based fills on softgel encapsulators.
• Biotechnology: small batches of potent or costly material, where micro-dosing systems fill doses as small as 100 micrograms and containment matters more than speed.
• Contract manufacturing: short runs across many products and capsule sizes. Changeover time governs throughput here, so multiple tooling sets carry as much weight as the machine.
• Laboratory and clinical supply: formulation development, stability builds, and clinical trial material on manual stations and bench-scale fillers.

Specifications & Configurations

Design variants. Manual filling stations, bench-scale and micro-dosing fillers, semi-automatic machines, automatic intermittent-motion fillers, automatic continuous-motion fillers, and rotary-die softgel encapsulators.

Fill types. Powders and granules, pellets and beads, micro-tablets, and liquids and semi-solids into hard gelatin or HPMC shells.

Common options. Integrated in-process checkweighing, capsule sorters and elevators, vacuum dedusting, isolator and glove-port containment, sealing and banding stations, and change part sets in additional capsule sizes.

Why Buy Used

Capsule filling equipment is specified rather than ordered off a shelf. The dosing method, capsule sizes, containment level, and control package are all decided up front, and a new machine is built to that specification, with lead times measured in months. A used machine of the same configuration ships in weeks, which is what usually decides it when a product moves to commercial scale faster than the equipment plan allowed.

These machines also last. The frame, drive, and turret outlive several product campaigns, and the parts that wear are the parts that were always meant to be replaced: segment plates, dosing disks, tamping pins, dosators, and sorting magazines. Because tooling is size-specific and sold separately, a machine bought with tooling in the sizes you actually run is worth more than the same machine bare, and a machine bought bare can still be brought up to a second size later.

Every machine is inspected when it arrives at our Cleveland, OH facility, and it is available for customer inspection before purchase. Refurbishment and run testing can be arranged upon request. Our training division, Techceuticals, runs a two-day hands-on Encapsulation Technologies course covering tamping and dosator dosing, with MG2, Dott. Bonapace, and Bosch GKF capsule fillers on the floor. Process validation for your own product and facility remains with the buyer.

Related Equipment

• Used Tablet & Capsule Fillers
• Used Tablet Presses
• Used Comil & Cone Mills
• Used Fitzmills & Hammer Mills
• Used V-Blenders & Twin Shell Blenders