Shrink wrap machines

Every type of shrink wrap machine compared: I-bar kits, hooded chambers, L-bar sealers, side sealers, and sleeve wrappers, with speeds and prices.

Updated October 2, 2026

Types at a glance

Shrink wrapping has two steps: sealing and shrinking. Two separate machines can do the jobs, or one combined machine can do both. The types differ in how they seal, how fast they run, and how much operator work each package takes.

Speeds are maker ratings under ideal conditions. Prices were seen on seller websites on September 29, 2026. They exclude freight and installation. Sources are in each section below and on the shrink wrap machine prices page.

I-bar sealer kits

An I-bar kit is a single straight heated bar on a table, a film roll, and a heat gun. The operator folds centerfold film around the product. Centerfold film is one sheet folded in half along its length. The operator then makes two or more seals to close it and shrinks it with the gun. Uline rates its kits at 1 to 2 packages per minute.

Good fit: a few packages a day, testing shrink wrap before buying equipment, or large one-off items.

A straight impulse bag sealer is not always able to cut centerfold shrink film. Check the film it is meant for, how it cuts, and whether it comes with a roll holder. Do that before you treat any bag sealer as an I-bar shrink kit.

I-bar or L-bar

An I-bar makes one straight seal per stroke. An L-bar seals two sides that meet at a corner in one stroke. With centerfold film, that changes how many times the operator places the package and closes the bar. Both still need a heat source to shrink the bag. For example, Uline’s H-2378 L-bar page lists two 18-inch sealing sides. It is used with a separate heat gun or tunnel.

Does the upgrade save time? Time the whole batch: placing, sealing, shrinking, checking, and handling. The heat gun may take most of the time. Then a faster sealer only builds a pile of unshrunk bags, not more finished packages.

Here is an example. Say your own batch timing shows 30 seconds of total labor per finished package with an I-bar. With an L-bar it shows 22 seconds. The saving is 8 seconds × 1,000 packages ÷ 3,600 = 2.22 hours per 1,000 packages. At an assumed labor cost of $25 an hour with overhead, that is about $55.56 of labor time. This is an illustration. It is not a tested rate or a promised cash saving. Put your measured saving and the full upgrade cost into the payback calculation. Include the heat source, film, bench space, shipping, and any power or air work.

Which to buy. An I-bar kit makes sense for occasional batches when purchase price matters more than extra handling. Try a manual tabletop L-bar sealer when repeated sealing strokes slow you down. Hillas lists the 13 × 13 in. AIE 1313L as a portable shrink wrap system. If holding and moving packages takes most of the time, compare semi-automatic machines and sealer and tunnel combos. Before buying either, measure your largest and smallest products. Confirm the film format in the buying guide.

Hooded chamber machines

A hooded chamber machine puts an L-bar and a small shrink oven under one hinged hood. The operator places the product in the film, closes the hood, and the machine seals and shrinks in one cycle. It takes little floor space. It needs no separate tunnel.

• Sealer Sales SS-48ST: 12 × 18.5 in. seal, 6 in. max height, 3 to 5 packs per minute, 110 V. $4,320 at MyBinding.
• Minipack FM 760: 17.5 × 22 in. seal, 10 in. chamber height, 4 to 6 items per minute, 230 V 15 A. $6,595 at Factory Express.
• Heat Seal HSE-50: all-electric, no compressed air.

Good fit: small retail items such as candles, soap, cosmetics, and software at a few packages a minute.

L-bar sealers

An L-bar sealer uses an L-shaped bar. In one stroke it seals the open side and the trailing end of centerfold film. It comes in manual, semi-automatic, and automatic versions. It pairs with a heat gun or a shrink tunnel. It is one option for small and mid-size operations. Whether it suits you depends on the product and workflow.

The limit is length. An L-bar can’t seal a package longer than its bar. The L-bar sealer guide explains how they work. Manual vs. semi-automatic vs. automatic explains the three levels. The L-bar sealer comparison lines up specific models side by side.

Impulse vs. constant-heat seals

L-bar sealers make the seal in one of two ways. Sellers use the names loosely. Ask which one a machine has.

• Impulse (hot wire): the wire heats only during the seal cycle. Then it cools while the film is still clamped. PAC Machinery describes an impulse cycle as heat, then “an optional cooling cycle,” “cooling the seal under pressure.” Seal time is short. It is about one second on the Uline H-2378, per its manual. The wear parts are the wire and the PTFE (Teflon) tape over it. Uline’s manual covers replacing both. Heat Seal’s HS-1620 manual ships spare non-stick tape and lists wires as expendable parts.
• Constant heat (hot knife): a temperature controller holds the knife at a set point. So it stays hot between cycles. On Eastey’s Professional Series, magnets hold the head down for a dwell time of 1 to 5 seconds, per its user guide. Dwell is how long the bar stays closed on the film. The wear parts are the knife inserts and cutting rules. Eastey adjusts them with the bar at temperature. Eastey’s FAQ names the PTFE coating on the blade and insert as the first check when film sticks.

Film. Eastey’s current Professional Series page describes a hot-knife system for a range of films. Some resellers call it “hot wire.” Don’t take that to mean Eastey offers both impulse and hot-knife versions. Its hot knife comes with different inserts “for different films and seal widths.” For bag sealing, PAC’s heat sealing guide recommends impulse for polyethylene and polypropylene. It recommends constant heat for “thicker films, Mylar, and foil packaging.”

Output. Impulse sealers need no warm-up, as Clamco notes for its 210. But each cycle includes heating the wire and, if used, cooling it. A hot knife must reach its set point before the first seal. After that it skips the heating step. PAC’s guide puts impulse at “low-to-medium production volumes.” It puts constant heat at “high-speed production lines.” US Packaging & Wrapping’s comparison chart lists wire sealers on manual machines. It lists wire or knife on semi-automatics and hot knife on fully automatic machines.

Search for “impulse sealer” and most results are bag sealers. One is the Clamco 210, which seals bags up to 5 mil thick with an 8 to 16 in. bar. A bag sealer closes one straight edge of a bag that is already made. An L-bar sealer seals the side and end of centerfold film and cuts it from the roll in one stroke.

Side sealers

A side sealer seals the side of the film nonstop as the product moves. It uses a wheel, belt, or hot knife. Only the cross seal between packages cycles. The cross seal is the seal across the film that splits one package from the next. There is no fixed-length side-seal frame. So product length is not limited the way it is on an L-bar. Each model still lists a minimum length, such as 2 in. on the Conflex FUSION and 3 in. on the AdvantEDGE. Texwrap says side sealers “can handle random products of infinite length”. Conflex calls the side sealer “the next step up in production from the automatic L bar sealer.” It says the machine changes between products “with only machine adjustments and no change parts.”

Intermittent-motion side sealers stop each package for the cross seal. Continuous-motion side sealers never stop the product. So they usually run faster. Intermittent models are rated in the same range as automatic L-bars.

The first three models in the table publish electrical and air figures. All list 220 V, and two need compressed air. All need a separate tunnel. Two sellers we checked published new prices. The TL-INT-20 is $48,828. The Maripak IMPACK Pro 20 is $63,980 on sale.

Good fit: long products such as molding, poster tubes, and trays. Also volume beyond what an automatic L-bar sealer can run. See L-bar sealer vs. side sealer.

Sleeve wrappers and bundlers

A sleeve wrapper wraps film around a group of products. The film comes from an upper and a lower roll, and the machine makes one cross seal. The ends stay open. After the tunnel they form round “bullseye” openings. Eastey describes bundling as mostly functional. It uses heavier polyethylene film for beverage, food, and industrial multipacks. Eastey points to L-sealers for items where shelf appearance matters.

• Clamco 7000SW: semi-automatic, 30 in. bar, up to 10 cycles per minute, 220 V three-phase.
• Eastey EB25A: automatic, 25 in. bar, 220 V 10 A, 3.5 CFM at 60 psi.
• Arpac 708HB: automatic with built-in tunnel, up to 20 or 50 bundles per minute by model.

No seller we checked published a price for a sleeve wrapper.

Good fit: multipacks of cans, bottles, jars, and cartons where the film holds the group together.

Heat sources

Most sealers above need a separate heat source to shrink the film. Some have one built in. These include hooded chambers, sealer and tunnel combos, and some bundlers such as the Arpac 708HB. The others use:

• Heat gun: cheapest, slowest, results depend on the operator.
• Shrink tunnel: a heated conveyor chamber. It gives consistent results at production speed. $2,539 to $15,827 new.

Not covered here

Two machines share the “shrink” name but do different jobs:

• Shrink sleeve labelers put a printed tube label on a bottle. They shrink it in a steam tunnel. Accutek describes steam tunnels as applying “controlled steam heat to shrink sleeves evenly around containers.” That is labeling, not overwrapping.
• Pallet shrink systems put a polyethylene hood over a full pallet. They shrink it with a propane gun such as the Ripack 2500. That secures loads for shipping.

How to choose

1. Count packages per minute you need. Divide daily packages by the minutes you really run. Use the speed column only to find candidates. Then require a timed trial with your product and film. The low end of a sales range is not guaranteed output.
2. Measure your longest product. The L-bar seal areas we found run from 13 × 13 in. to 30 × 40 in. Most are 18 to 25 in. long. The package must be shorter than the bar. If the product does not fit, look at a larger L-bar, a side sealer, a sleeve wrapper, or another packaging method.
3. Decide single items or groups. Retail items in a fully sealed, clear wrap suit L-bar sealers and side sealers. Groups of cans or bottles suit sleeve wrappers.
4. Check your building. Side sealers, sleeve wrappers, and larger tunnels usually need 220 V. Some need three-phase power or compressed air.
5. Price the whole system. Most sealers need a tunnel. Add it before comparing.

Then use the buying guide to write up your requirements.

To narrow the machine type, compare specific L-bar models, sealer and tunnel combos, or I-bar and L-bar workflows.