The Fill N' Fold Cone Loader

We hear it every year from producers and manufacturers responding to our annual State of the Pre-Roll Market survey: The two slowest parts of the pre-roll production process are the beginning and the end.

Closing pre-rolls is always the top pain point for manufacturers. It’s one of the reasons the makers of the Fill N’ Fold cone-filling machine created the tamping and folding tool they include with each machine, vastly speeding up the process with the ability to close 11 cones at a time.

But the other end of the cone-filling process is still a top concern and slowdown for anyone that makes pre-rolls. Loading cones into a machine one-by-one at the beginning of every cycle is a consistent speed bump that limits throughput. No matter how fast your machine is, you can only move as fast as your slowest point.

And like with the tamping and closing tool, Fill N’ Fold has once again created a solution to help speed the process: The Fill N’ Fold Cone Loader, capable of holding stacks of pre-rolled cones and dropping up to 121 at a time into a Fill N’ Fold work tray.

It’s simple, relatively easy to use and with a little practice, it can drastically increase your production rate while reducing employee time spent on tedious, repetitive tasks.

Let’s get into exactly what it is, how it works, and how you can use it on your pre-roll line to increase production or scale up with additional products and SKUs.

What is the Fill N’ Fold

First let’s get through the basics.

The Fill N’ Fold is a small, electronic cone-filling machine, with a vibration motor and a series of work trays that allow the main base unit to be used with any of the major standard pre-roll cone sizes, from 70mm dogwalkers and half-gram 84mm up to ¾-gram 98mm cones, 109mm kingsize pre-rolled cones and even 120mm party-sized cones.

It works with all paper types, including hemp wrap blunt cones and hybrid hemp wrap pre-rolled blunt cones.

There are even work trays that allow the same basic machine to fill various size pre-rolled tubes, for companies looking to create something a little different.

With space for 121 cones per cycle and time-saving additions like specially designed metering trays and the unique tamping/folding tool that closes a full row of 11 pre-rolls at once, the Fill N’ Fold is a trusted and easy way to launch or scale a pre-roll line.

The tamping/folding tool, which drastically speeds up the pre-roll closing process, also led it to victory in our first Battle of the Pre-Roll Machines.

And, because it is made with metal and molded plastic, it is easy to keep clean with isopropyl alcohol and brushes.

But despite speeding the closing process, the Fill N’ Fold still had the same secondary pain point as other cone-filling machines: each of the 121 slots still had to be loaded by hand with empty pre-rolled cones at the beginning of every cycle.

Until now.

The Fill N’ Fold Cone Loader

The Fill N’ Fold Cone Loader solves the reload problem by using a unique latch mechanism that can hold a single cone in place by the filter without damaging it, allowing users to use the Loader to hold stacks of cones in each slots and then drop them one-at-a-time into the work tray.

Consisting of two main boxes with an attachable extension for larger cones, the Cone Loader is designed to fit on top of a Fill N Fold work tray. But instead of dropping in a single cone at a time, the idea is to place an entire stack of cones in each slot and then use the Loader to drop a full run of up to 121 pre-rolled cones at a single time.

It does this by using the latch mechanism in a specific order, moving the cones from the stacks placed in the top box, to a single level in the bottom box and then releasing that box’s load into the work tray.

There is a slight learning curve that requires a little practice to get the process steps in the right order every time. But once you master it, you’ll never want to load individual cones by hand again.

How to Use the Fill N’ Fold Cone Loader

The process works basically like this:

• First, place the two sections on top of each other, adding the extension if you are using larger cones, such as a 98mm or 109mm. Place the Cone Loader on a flat surface with the thumb latches open. The latches work like the bottom of a Connect Four board, sliding into place a blocker.
• To begin, make sure they are open and you can see all the way through each slot to your table surface.
• Next, load a full stack of cones from your tower box into each slot of the cone loader while the thumb latches are open. Then close all four of the latches to lock them in place and set the full Cone Loader on top of your Fill N Fold work tray.
• Now, lift and remove the top section of the Loader and place it into the included holding stand. This will not only protect the rest of your cones from being damaged but make it easier to grab and repeat these steps.
• Then just loosen the latches on the bottom tray to drop a full run of cones into their slots on the work tray, remove the bottom tray, place it onto a flat surface, place the top tray back on top of it and it’s ready to repeat the process. Used right, it can save a ton of employee time and drastically increase your pre-roll throughput.

The Fill N’ Fold Cone Loader works on all major cone sizes, including 70mm, 84mm, 98mm, 109mm and even 120mm, as long as those cones have a standard 26mm filter.

Final Thoughts on the Fill N’ Fold Cone Loader

Much like they did with the closing and tamping tool, the makers of the Fill N’ Fold cone-filling machine have once again created a way to help speed the pre-roll production process, improving on an already solid value of a tabletop pre-roll machine.

And like the closing tool, with just a little training and practice, the new Fill N’ Fold Cone Loader has the potential to smooth out one of the largest speed bumps that almost every producer encounters.

Contact the Pre-Roll Experts today to discuss how the Fill N Fold Cone Loader can fit into your facility and help you expand or scale up your pre-roll line.