Oral solid dose
Federal Equipment Company buys and sells used solid dosage equipment for tablet and capsule manufacturing from Cleveland, OH, where it is kept in more than 200,000 sq ft of climate-controlled space. Our inventory follows the oral solid dose (OSD) process in order: blenders, high shear granulators, roller compactors, fluid bed dryers, mills, tablet presses, capsule fillers, coating pans, and the inspection and packaging equipment that ends the line.
What this covers
Oral solid dose manufacturing turns powder into tablets, two-piece hard capsules, and oral powders for sachets and stick packs, along with the granules, pellets, and blends that go into them. Every solid dose product follows some version of one sequence. Powder is weighed, blended, granulated if the formulation needs it, dried, sized, and blended again, then compressed or encapsulated, coated, inspected, and packed.
Machines run from bench and pilot scale to commercial production, including contained designs for potent compounds. We have bought and sold used process and packaging equipment since 1957, and we buy surplus solid dose equipment outright or on consignment.
Other dosage forms run on different trains: liquid dosage equipment, semi-solid dosage equipment, and aseptic processing equipment for sterile products. API production, from reactors to centrifuges, sits on our main used pharmaceutical equipment page, and analytical instruments are listed under lab equipment. Softgels are an oral solid dose too, and the softgel capsule fillers we sell serve drug and supplement plants alike. Gummies and other supplement lines are covered on our nutraceutical and supplement equipment page.
Solid dose equipment reaches us from drug manufacturers and contract manufacturers as they consolidate sites, close plants, or replace lines. A whole train often leaves one building at the same time, so complete lines turn up alongside single machines. Stock is a snapshot rather than a limit, so ask for what you need even when it is not listed.
Process train
Each step changes the powder in one way and sets up the step after it. The order matters more than any single machine, because a weak granule made at step three shows up later as weight variation or capping at the press.
Each batch starts with the API and excipients weighed against the batch record, usually under a downflow booth that draws dust away from the operator. Bag dump stations, IBCs, and loss-in-weight feeders then move the powder into the first vessel with as little open handling as possible. Every transfer kept closed here is dust the rest of the line does not have to contain.
Pre-blending spreads the API evenly through the excipients before anything else happens to it, which matters most on low-dose products. V-blenders (also called twin shell blenders), double cone blenders, and bin blenders tumble the batch without an agitator, so they are gentle on the particles. Ribbon blenders, plow mixers, and fluidized zone mixers take larger and less fragile blends.
Granulation builds fine powder into dense, free-flowing granules that fill a die or a capsule the same way every time. Wet granulation adds a binder solution in a high shear granulator or a fluid bed, while dry granulation densifies the blend on a roller compactor with no liquid or heat. Pellets for modified-release capsules are made by extrusion and spheronization instead.
Wet granules have to reach a target moisture before they can be sized. A batch fluid bed dryer does most of this work and is often charged from the granulator through a wet mill. Tray dryers and ovens handle small batches and products that will not fluidize. The end point is usually set by loss on drying, measured on samples pulled during the run.
Sizing breaks up agglomerates and sets the particle size distribution, which governs how the granulation flows into the press. Conical mills, hammer mills, and oscillating granulators do the sizing, pulverizers reduce API and excipients to fine powder, and vibratory screeners take out oversize material. A mill's screens are chosen for the product, so list the screens that come with a used mill before you buy it.
The sized granulation goes back into a blender with any remaining excipients, and the lubricant goes in last. Lubricant blending is short and timed, because overblending magnesium stearate can soften tablets and slow dissolution. Many plants run this step in the same bin that feeds the press, which keeps the batch closed through compression.
This is where the dose takes its final form. A tablet press compresses the blend between upper and lower punches. Bi-layer presses add a second fill and compression stage. An encapsulator doses the same kind of blend, or pellets, into two-piece hard capsules.
Most tablets get a film coat for taste masking, appearance, moisture protection, or delayed release. Perforated pan coaters handle tablets in pans from 8 inches for development work to 67 inches for production, and a Wurster column in a fluid bed coats pellets and granules bound for capsules. The spray system, pumps, and air handler belong to the coater, so confirm what is included before comparing two units.
Tablets leave the press carrying loose powder and edge burrs, so they pass through a deduster and then a metal detector that catches fragments from punches or the feed frame. Capsules go through a polisher and a checkweigher, banders seal liquid fills, and printers add an imprint or a code. Hardness and friability testers sit beside the press so operators can check the process while it runs.
The last step counts tablets or capsules into bottles or seals them into blisters. A bottle line runs an electronic counter with a cottoner, capper, induction sealer, and labeler behind it. A blister machine forms, fills, seals, and cuts in one frame and usually feeds a cartoner, and our packaging equipment page covers the rest of the line.
Scale
The same step runs on very different machines as batch size grows. A formulation lab works in grams, a pilot plant in kilograms, and a commercial line in hundreds of kilograms, and each scale brings its own equipment, utilities, and floor space.
| Tablet presses | Single-station R&D presses to 87-station double-sided rotary presses |
|---|---|
| Capsule fillers | Manual filling plates to automatic machines rated at 200,000 capsules per hour |
| High shear granulators | 1-liter tabletop bowls to 1,200-liter production bowls |
| Fluid bed processors | Bench units for 5 g batches to 1,700-liter product bowls |
| Roller compactors | About 5 g/hr on bench units to 400 kg/hr in production |
| Coating pans | 8-inch development pans to 67-inch production pans |
Bench machines usually run on 110 or 120 volt single-phase power and sit on a lab bench. Pilot equipment is often portable and sized for clinical batches. Commercial machines need 460 or 480 volt three-phase power, dust collection, and in many plants a mezzanine or upper floor so powder can feed by gravity.
Scale-up goes more smoothly when pilot and production machines come from the same series, because bowl geometry, impeller design, and air flow change in proportion. Several series we see regularly span that whole range, such as Glatt GPCG fluid beds from the GPCG 1 to the GPCG 300 and Collette Gral granulators from the Gral 10 to the Gral 1200. The process parameters for your product still have to be established at each scale, and that work stays with the buyer.
Buyers search for the same machines under several names. A tablet press is also called a tablet compression machine, and a bench unit with one set of tooling is a single-punch press. High shear granulators also appear as high shear mixers or granulating mixers, and coating pans as perforated pan coaters. Continuous equipment comes through too, though less often than batch equipment, including GEA ConsiGma continuous granulation lines and continuous coating pans.
Our divisions
Two of our divisions are built around tablet and capsule manufacturing, and a free online event we present twice a year shows the equipment running.
Training and troubleshooting
Techceuticals is our training and troubleshooting division, and its lab in Cleveland, OH runs these unit operations at lab and pilot scale. Equipment there comes from Fette, Glatt, Freund-Vector, Fluid Air, Quadro, Natoli, and Dott. Bonapace, among others. Teams use the lab to train operators, work through a process problem, rent lab time, or have trial units made before committing to a line.
Techceuticals
The course schedule mirrors the process train. A two-day introductory course covers every unit operation, and two-day courses go deeper on granulation, tablet making, encapsulation, and film coating. A two-day workshop on granulation and tablet production is taught with Fette and Glatt specialists, and courses also run on site, live online, and as eTraining.
Parts
PharmParts is our parts division, and its biggest sellers are Fitzmill screens and parts for Fitzpatrick mills and Comil screens and impellers for Quadro conical mills. The screen largely sets particle size, so a used mill often needs more screens than it arrives with. It also carries tablet press parts for Fette, Korsch, Manesty, Stokes, and Kikusui presses. Its capsule filler parts cover Bosch GKF, IMA Zanasi, and MG2 machines, and its fluid bed dryer parts cover Glatt and Vector units.
Virtual Pharma Expo
Virtual Pharma Expo is a free online equipment event we present twice a year, and one edition every year covers solid dosage manufacturing and packaging. Equipment makers run their machines on camera and take questions live. Past sessions on compression, encapsulation, granulation, and coating are free to watch on demand.
Manufacturers
These are the manufacturers we see most often. Individual machines sell, but model series recur for decades, which makes them the better guide to what will come through again.
| Step | Manufacturers and model series |
|---|---|
| Blending | Patterson-Kelley twin shell V-blenders, including Blendmaster and Cross-Flow; GlobePharma MaxiBlend; Gemco double cone blenders; L.B. Bohle and Servolift bin blenders; and Littleford FKM plow mixers |
| High shear granulation | Collette Gral; DIOSNA P series; Fielder PMA granulators under the T.K. Fielder, Aeromatic-Fielder, and Niro Fielder nameplates; Glatt and Powrex VG; Vector and Freund-Vector GMX; and Key International KG-5 |
| Fluid bed processing | Glatt GPCG, WST, and Uniglatt; Aeromatic-Fielder Strea and MP; Fluid Air; Vector VFC and FL-M; and GEA ConsiGma continuous lines |
| Dry granulation | Fitzpatrick Chilsonator IR and CCS; Alexanderwerk WP; Gerteis Mini-Pactor and Polygran; and Freund-Vector TFC |
| Milling and screening | Fitzpatrick Fitzmill DASO6, D6A, L1A, and M5A; Quadro Comil U5, U10, U20, 194, and 197; Frewitt; Mikro and Hosokawa micropulverizers; and SWECO, Russell Finex, and Kason screeners |
| Compression | Manesty Betapress, Unipress, Rotapress, and Xpress; Stokes; Fette 1200, 2090, 3090, 2200, and 3200; Korsch XL and PharmaPress; Elizabeth-HATA AP and HT-X; Kikusui Gemini and Libra; Riva Piccola; and Kilian |
| Encapsulation | Bosch GKF; MG2 Futura and G-series; IMA Zanasi and Matic; Capsugel Ultra 8, CFS, and Xcelodose; Dott. Bonapace In-Cap; and Qualicaps LIQFIL |
| Coating | Thomas Processing Accela-Cota and Compu-Lab; O'Hara Labcoat and FastCoat; Glatt GC; and Vector and Freund-Vector Hi-Coater and LDCS |
| Finishing and inspection | Kramer, George Nutting, and Pharma Technology dedusters; CEIA THS/PH21 and LOCK MET 30+ metal detectors; Harro Hofliger KWS, IMA Precisa, and CI Electronics SADE checkweighers; Ackley printers; and Dr. Schleuniger and Sotax hardness testers |
| Counting and blister packaging | Kirby Lester, King, and Swiftpack counters; and Uhlmann UPS, Klockner, and Sepha blister machines |
Brand pages
All manufacturers
Buying used
A used press or granulator is judged on more than its mechanical condition. Four things decide whether it will run your product: what it ran before, what touches the product, how quickly it cleans and changes over, and what documentation comes with it.
Potent APIs put containment ahead of throughput. Dust from a potent product settles in punch guides, feed frames, mill housings, and filter bags, where a routine wash-down can miss it. Contained designs do come through, including wash-in-place presses, capsule fillers and granulators built into isolators, and mills set up for glove box work. Where a previous product calls for it, we can arrange decontamination before shipment.
On a used machine, the stainless steel is rarely the problem. Gaskets, seals, filter bags, and spray nozzles wear and carry their own material specifications, so plan to replace them with documented parts before the machine runs product. Check bowls, pans, and feed frames for pitting or scoring, because damaged surfaces are harder to clean and harder to show clean.
On a multi-product line, cleaning and changeover can take longer than the batch itself. Segmented turrets, wash-in-place designs, and a set of change parts for each product shorten that time, and they are worth paying for on a line that runs many products. Ask for the manuals and parts lists that show how a machine comes apart, since cleaning validation for your products stays with you.
Finished drug products are made under the current good manufacturing practice rules in 21 CFR Parts 210 and 211. A used machine arrives without your validation, so plan that work for your own team or your validation contractor. We supply the manuals, drawings, and parts lists we hold, along with the machine history we can establish.
Selling surplus
Presses, granulators, and coaters from the major series stay in demand long after a plant retires them. When a site consolidates, closes, or moves a product, we buy the equipment outright on a fixed timeline, or sell it on consignment if you would rather share the upside.
We have run more than a dozen auctions of solid dose equipment since 2022, including one plant cleared over several sales. Our auction archive shows what has sold.
Send the asset list and nameplate photos, call 800-652-2466, or email sales@fedequip.com. Include the turrets, tooling, and change parts for each press or capsule filler, because they change what the machine is worth.
Sell your equipmentIf you are buying, tell us what you are looking for.
FAQ
Still have a question? Call 800-652-2466 or email sales@fedequip.com.
A typical oral solid dose line runs dispensing, blending, granulation, drying, milling, final blending, compression or encapsulation, coating, inspection, and packaging. Direct compression skips granulation, drying, and milling, and dry granulation skips the drying step. Each step has its own equipment, from bag dump stations and bin blenders at the start to tablet counters and blister machines at the end. Hardness and friability testers sit beside the press for in-process checks, while dissolution and assay testing happen in the QC lab.
Wet granulation binds the powder with a liquid in a high shear granulator or fluid bed, then dries and mills it. It suits most blends that flow or compress poorly. Dry granulation compacts the blend on a roller compactor and mills the ribbon, which avoids moisture and heat. Direct compression skips both steps and presses the blend as it is, which needs excipients that flow and compress well on their own.
It can, if the machine was built or fitted for containment. Wash-in-place presses, capsule fillers and granulators built into isolators, and contained mills all come through our inventory, and the configuration matters more than the brand. Ask for the product history before you buy, and plan cleaning or decontamination around it. As a policy, we do our best never to bring beta-lactam equipment, anything that ran penicillin or cephalosporins, into our warehouses.
On a press, check the turret for worn punch guides and die bores, look at the cams and pressure rolls, and confirm the tooling standard it takes, such as B, D, or BB. Match the compression force and station count to your tablet. On an encapsulator, check which capsule sizes are tooled, the condition of the segments and dosing parts, and the vacuum system. Ask which change parts ship with either machine.
On a high shear granulator, check the impeller and chopper seals, the bowl surface, and whether the bowl volume suits your batch size. On a fluid bed, look at the air handler, filter housings, product bowls, and the inserts that come with it, and confirm the pressure shock rating your process needs. Size the two as a pair, because the dryer has to hold the whole wet batch from the granulator.
Sometimes. When a plant closes or consolidates, its train often comes to market together, and we have run auctions that cleared entire solid dose sites. More often a line is assembled from separate machines. In that case, match granulator and dryer capacities, transfer methods such as bins or vacuum conveying, and tooling standards across the presses, and tell us the batch size you are building toward.
Yes. Turrets, capsule change parts, and mill screens are listed as their own items. Our parts division, PharmParts, sells more Fitzmill and Comil screens than anything else. It also carries tablet press parts for Fette, Manesty, Korsch, and Stokes; capsule filler parts for Bosch GKF, IMA Zanasi, and MG2; and parts for Glatt fluid beds. If a part is not listed, ask, because that stock changes constantly.
Yes. We buy single presses, encapsulators, and coaters as well as complete trains and whole sites, outright or on consignment. When a site will return more as one event, we run an auction or liquidation. We handle disconnection, rigging, and removal. Send an asset list with nameplate photos, and include the tooling and change parts, since they change what a machine is worth.
Call 800-652-2466 or email sales@fedequip.com. Inspections in Cleveland, OH by appointment.
Chemical Gear: Stainless Steel Vessels, Reactors & Process Equipment
October 30 - November 5, 2026
Former Assets of a 1,000,000 Sq. Ft. Leading Tire Manufacturer
November 24 - December 3, 2026
Denison Pharmaceuticals Turnkey Sale
Turnkey Contract Pharmaceutical Operation Available Immediately. Manufacturing OTC Sprays, Liquids, Creams, Aerosols, Gels, Inhalers & More!
Large-Capacity Jacketed 304 Stainless Steel Storage Tanks
Multiple matching tanks available. Jacketed configurations for temperature control. Specs listed per unit.
Solid Dosage Packaging & End-of-Line Equipment
A broad selection of solid dosage packaging, inspection, and end-of-line equipment from a single site.
Chemical Gear: Stainless Steel Vessels, Reactors & Process Equipment
October 30 - November 5, 2026
Former Assets of a 1,000,000 Sq. Ft. Leading Tire Manufacturer
November 24 - December 3, 2026
Denison Pharmaceuticals Turnkey Sale
Turnkey Contract Pharmaceutical Operation Available Immediately. Manufacturing OTC Sprays, Liquids, Creams, Aerosols, Gels, Inhalers & More!
Large-Capacity Jacketed 304 Stainless Steel Storage Tanks
Multiple matching tanks available. Jacketed configurations for temperature control. Specs listed per unit.
Solid Dosage Packaging & End-of-Line Equipment
A broad selection of solid dosage packaging, inspection, and end-of-line equipment from a single site.
Federal Equipment Company sends out emails with equipment and information curated for our Pharmaceutical, Chemical, Plastics, Packaging, and Food & Beverage customers each week. If you want to sign up to receive any or all of these emails, click the button here.
