If you use an impulse sealer (see pic on right), then you know how tricky it can be to hold a roll of film in place, while you unwind it, hold it in place, add your product and press the sealing jaw.
If you move to L-sealers, the film roll holder is built it, but they don’t provide as good a seal, so for many of us, the impulse sealer really feels like an incomplete machine. It’s the sealer, but not the feeder.
Roll holders are available and they’re wonderfully simple devices. Two free rolling tubes mounted on a metal frame. Simply set your roll of film on the roller tubes and gently unwind your film.
Which is odd, because they’re typically priced just under £100.
I built my own using aluminium profile from Bosch Rexroth and rollers from Interroll. You would be forgiven for not having heard of these brands, unless you’re in mechanical engineering, but basically they’re used in industry for building heavy duty frames and conveyor systems. My own roll holder was therefore unwieldy and took up a lot of room, but it did work really well and cost only a few pounds.
As I have to move it from shed to kitchen every time I bag biscuits however, I wanted something smaller and lighter. The big rolls of film can be 20kg, so it still had to be robust, but well under £100.
After experimentation and several suppliers to find the right one, I developed a mini roll holder, made of steel with high quality (low cost) rollers and strong adjustable feet, so you can set the height of your roll to match your impulse sealer.
The first prototype was nearly perfect, with just one skewed foot where I made the hole the wrong angle, but it works fine for me. The next models were machine manufactured, so they’re much more precise and will be available in September 2024. Keep an eye on my YouTube channel and shop page for when they launch. Hopefully they’ll make your life much easier, as they did for me.