Bag Making Machine Buying Guide — Specification Checklist Before You Order
Most bag machine mistakes are made before the order, in the specification. This guide walks through the decisions in the order that matters — product first, then size, film, seal, lane count and output — and finishes with the checklist an engineer will ask you for.
Step 1 — define the bag, not the machine
Every later decision follows from the bag itself. Write down what you sell, not what you want to buy.
- 1 · Bag type — T-shirt/vest, flat on roll, drawstring, side seal, zipper, courier, heavy duty
- 2 · Bag size — width × length in mm, including the handle if it is punched
- 3 · Film — HDPE, LDPE, blend or BOPP; single-side gauge in mm
- 4 · Presentation — stacked, on roll, or folded and packed by hand
- 5 · Print — none, or how many colours and on which panels
- 6 · Volume — bags per shift, and how many shifts per day
Step 2 — match the bag to the machine family
Each family exists because a sealing geometry solves one product family well.
| Product | Family | Published size and speed |
|---|---|---|
| T-shirt / vest bag, wide size range | GFQ | 550–1,150 mm · 60–720 bags/min |
| T-shirt bag, one narrow size at volume | DFR-400×2 | 180–320 mm · 100–300 bags/min |
| Flat bag or bin liner on roll | Thermal cut (DRW) | 10–950 mm · 40–180 bags/min |
| On-roll drawstring garbage bag | Drawstring (RES class) | 800 mm · 70–150 bags/min |
| Garment / laundry bag | Garment bag machine | 100–800 mm · 30–100 bags/min |
| Courier / express bag | DHL class | 50–800 mm · 20–250 bags/min |
| Heavy-duty industrial bag | Heavy duty machine | 550–1,150 mm · 30–120 bags/min |
Step 3 — decide lane count from volume
Lane count is the single biggest price and output decision, and the one buyers most often get wrong in both directions.
Work backwards: bags per shift ÷ seconds in a shift = required bags per second; divide by the machine cycle rate to get the number of lanes, then round up for changeover and downtime.
- One lane — widest bag possible, lowest output, simplest maintenance
- Two lanes — the default T-shirt bag configuration
- Four to six lanes — narrow bags at volume; automatic handle punching becomes essential
- Remember: lanes share the web, so lane count caps bag width
Step 4 — film and seal must be specified together
The seal is a combination of film gauge, resin, temperature, dwell time and knife geometry. A machine that seals 0.02 mm HDPE perfectly will not seal 0.15 mm LDPE without a change of setup.
Bring the film specification — resin, gauge, blend ratio — to the quotation. That is what the sealing system is configured against.
Step 5 — utilities and floor space
Bag machines are usually the easiest machines in the plant to install — unless the utilities were forgotten.
- Voltage: confirm 220 V or 380 V, single or three phase, per machine — presses and bag machines can differ
- Compressed air: required at the punch station and for stackers; check the air compressor size
- Installed power: use the published figure for load planning, not an estimate
- Floor space: include unwind and stacker positions, and operator access on both sides
- Waste: plan the punch-out chute and conveyor route to the granulator before the layout is fixed
Step 6 — close the loop with waste recovery
Handle punch-outs are a continuous, clean, single-material stream — the best granulator feed in a bag plant. Recovering them changes the yield of the whole line.
A granulator rated 150–500 kg/h copes with punch-out and trim from several bag machines and returns the material to the film line's core layer.
The machines this guide refers to
Specifications quoted throughout this guide, so you can compare like with like before requesting a quotation:
Film lines carried in the same table give the output ceiling for each bag machine — size the film line with the bag machine, not after it.
| Specification | T-Shirt Bag Making Machine (GFQ) | T-Shirt Bag Making Machine (DFR-400×2) | DRW Thermal Cutting Bag Making Machine | Drawstring Garbage Bag Making Machine | Heavy Duty Bag Making Machine | Monolayer Blown Film Machine |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bag width | 550–1,150 mm | 180–320 mm | 10–950 mm | 800 mm | 550–1,150 mm | on request |
| Bag length | 700–1,800 mm | 280–650 mm | 50–990 mm | up to 900 mm | up to 1,500 mm | on request |
| Speed | 60–720 bags/min | 100–300 bags/min | 40–180 bags/min | 70–150 bags/min | 30–120 bags/min | on request |
| Film / bag thickness | 0.01–0.15 mm | 0.01–0.05 mm | 0.01–0.10 mm | 0.008–0.03 mm | 0.01–0.30 mm | 0.008–0.10 mm |
| Installed power | on request | 16 kW installed | 3–4.7 kW installed | 25 kW installed | 12 kW installed | 46–74 kW installed |
| Indicative price | $9,000 – $35,000 | $9,000 – $35,000 | $15,000 – $60,000 | $15,000 – $60,000 | $20,000 – $70,000 | $18,000 – $45,000 |
“on request” marks a value this configuration does not publish — ask for it and an engineer confirms the figure for your specification. Published figures come from the machine database and are identical on every page of this site.
The checklist to send with your enquiry
Send these and the answer is a configuration with a price, not a question:
Then compare like with like: check published speed, power, gauge range and price side by side in the bag making machine price guide, and see how the two T-shirt families differ in GFQ vs DFR.
- 1 · Bag drawing or sketch with width, length and handle position
- 2 · Film: resin, gauge, and whether it is printed
- 3 · Bags per shift and shifts per day
- 4 · Preferred lane count, or the volume for us to size it
- 5 · Printing: colours and whether registration control is needed
- 6 · Voltage, destination port and any certification requirement (for example CE for the EU)
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Frequently asked questions
How do I choose a bag making machine?
Start from the bag: type, size, film and gauge, then how it is presented (stacked or on roll). That fixes the machine family. Then size lane count from your volume, confirm the sealing setup against your film, and check voltage, air and floor space. Finally compare published speed, power and price between candidate machines.
How many lanes do I need?
Divide your required bags per shift by the machine cycle rate to get the minimum lane count, then round up. For reference, the GFQ family runs 60–720 bags/min depending on lines and the DFR-400×2 runs 100–300 bags/min per line. Lanes share the web, so more lanes means a narrower maximum bag.
What information does a supplier need to quote?
Bag type and size, film resin and gauge, target output, lane count (or the volume to size it), printing requirements, destination voltage and port. With those six items a real quotation with a layout drawing is possible — without them any price is a guess.
Should I buy one machine that does everything, or two specialised machines?
Specialised machines win once volume justifies them. Sealing geometry differs between T-shirt, flat, drawstring and side-seal bags, so a plant running two product families normally runs two bag machines fed from one film line rather than changing over a single machine every shift.
Does the bag machine need a matching film line?
Yes — the film line sets your ceiling. A mini line runs 100–800 mm at 35–50 kg/h and a monolayer line 600–1,200 mm at 30–120 kg/h, which is enough for one or two bag machines; above that, plan a second film line rather than buying bag capacity you cannot feed.
What should I check before accepting delivery?
Ask for the test-run record: bag size and tolerance, cycle rate on your film, seal strength, and handle punch position. Every E-SHION machine is assembled and test-run before shipment, and commissioning on site confirms the settings against your own film and voltage.
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