Pre-Roll Machine ROI Calculator: See Your Payback on a Humboldt Filling Machines Starter Kit

Find out when a Humboldt Filling Machines starter kit pays for itself. Enter the cones you need each day, what you pay per hour, and how long one cone takes you by hand. You'll see your payback in working days, your monthly and yearly labor savings, and how many sessions a day your kit needs. Kits start at $369, a fraction of what $2,000-plus machines cost, so the math works for small producers too.

Lifetime warranty: if anything breaks, Humboldt Filling Machines replaces it, for the life of the unit. · 30-day returns: unused kits, cartridges and the C-ONE, with no restocking fee. · Made and shipped from Humboldt County, CA.

How the calculator works

The calculator compares two ways of filling the same cones: by hand, and with a Humboldt Filling Machines starter kit.

By hand, it's your daily cones times your own time per cone. With a starter kit, a full 121-cone session takes about an hour, start to finish. Loading the empty cones takes about 1 second a cone (about 2 minutes for a full 121, an estimate), and filling and tamping take the rest, about 0.48 minutes a cone. If you enter an unload time, it counts once for each session you run. These times are estimates for the math, and you can change any of them.

The difference is the time you get back. Multiply it by your hourly labor cost for daily savings, then by your working days for monthly and yearly savings. Divide the kit price by your daily savings and you have your payback in working days.

Every result comes from your own numbers, plus Humboldt Filling Machines' published price and capacity for the kit you pick and a session-time estimate you can change.

Pick the kit that matches your daily volume

Every kit ships with the cartridge, riser (300 Series: detachable base), tamping tool, vibration table, stabilization mat and switched extension cord. Not sure of your size? Match your cone in the size guide, or try one cone first in a $9.99 C-ONE.

Worked example

Example inputs, to show how the math runs. Your own time gives you your own result, so enter it above.

• Cones per day: 300
• Example hand-fill time: if hand-filling one cone takes you 2 minutes
• Example labor cost: $20 an hour
• Working days per month: 20
• Kit: 84mm 1¼, 121 cones, $599
• Full 121-cone session: 60 minutes (the standard estimate)
• Load time: 1 second per cone (the standard estimate)
• Unload time: left blank

By hand: 300 cones × 2 minutes = 600 minutes = 10 hours a day.
With the kit: 300 ÷ 121 = 2.48, so 3 sessions a day. Loading: 300 cones × 1 second = 5 minutes. Filling and tamping: 300 cones × 0.4792 minutes = 143.8 minutes. Total: 148.8 minutes = 2.48 hours a day (about 2.5, an estimate).
Time back: 10 − 2.48 = 7.52 hours a day.
Daily savings: 7.52 hours × $20 = $150.40.
Pays for itself in 4 working days: $599 ÷ $150.40 = 3.98, rounded up to 4.
Then it keeps paying: $150.40 × 20 days = $3,008 a month, and $3,008 × 12 = $36,096 a year. Per cone, that's $150.40 ÷ 300 = $0.5013 saved, so it pays for itself after $599 ÷ $0.5013 = 1,194.9, rounded up to 1,195 cones.
Cost per cone: by hand $20 × 2 ÷ 60 = $0.67 · with Humboldt Filling Machines $20 × 2.48 ÷ 300 = $0.17.

Cover your whole day in one run. The 300 Series 84mm kit fills 389 cones per run, so your 300 cones take 1 session a day instead of 3: one setup, one fill, one unload, with room to grow to 389 a run. Loading, filling and tamping time is the same estimate either way, and any unload time you enter is paid once a day instead of three times. Pick it above to see its own payback.

(Session and load times are estimates: about 121 cones in about an hour on a 121X cartridge with a vibration table, and about 1 second per cone to load. Change them in the calculator to match your own timed session.)

Covered for life

Every Humboldt Filling Machines product carries a lifetime warranty, for the life of the unit. It covers every piece on its own, including cartridges, the C-ONE, and the VB1 and VB2 tables. If anything breaks, from normal use or otherwise, Humboldt Filling Machines replaces it.

Grow capacity without buying a new machine

Your vibration table stays. When your volume grows, move up to a bigger cartridge on the same table: on the 109mm King or the 84mm 1¼, go from 55 to 121 cones per session. Standard 7 to 121-cone cartridges run on the VB1 or VB2, and the 300 Series (315 to 389 cones) runs on the VB2. Cartridges start at $29 and come with their own riser (300 Series: detachable base) and tamping tool.

A larger cartridge covers the same daily number in fewer sessions. Pick the larger kit above to see your sessions per day.

See how it works

Watch a Humboldt Filling Machines starter kit at work in a short walkthrough. See how it works

FAQ

How do I calculate pre-roll machine ROI?

Work out the hours you save per day, multiply by your hourly labor cost to get daily savings, then divide the machine's price by your daily savings. The result is your payback in working days. The calculator on this page does it from your own numbers and your own hand-fill time.

How much does a pre-roll machine cost, and when does it pay for itself?

Humboldt Filling Machines starter kits start at $369, a fraction of what $2,000-plus machines cost, and every kit includes the vibration table, cartridge, riser, tamping tool, stabilization mat and switched cord. Cartridges start at $29, and on its own the VB1 vibration table is $369 and the VB2 is $449. Every kit price is in the table above, and the calculator shows how many working days yours takes to pay for itself.

How many cones does a Humboldt Filling Machines kit fill per session?

Humboldt Filling Machines kits fill 19 to 389 cones per session, by size and cartridge. 109mm King kits fill 19, 55 or 121. 70mm, 84mm and 98mm Classic kits fill 55 or 121, and the 98mm Slim fills 121. 140mm Peacemaker kits fill 55 or 121. The 300 Series fills 389 (70mm, 84mm), 331 (98mm Classic) or 315 (109mm King).

How long does one Humboldt Filling Machines session take?

About an hour for a full 121-cone cartridge, start to finish: loading the empty cones, filling, tamping and unloading. That's a well-trained maker using a 121X cartridge on a vibration table. Loading takes about 1 second a cone, about 2 minutes of that hour. Scaled from that hour, a 55-cone session takes about 27 minutes and a 389-cone 300 Series session about 3.2 hours (estimates for the math). The calculator starts from these estimates, and you can enter your own timed session.

What's the labor cost per cone when filling by hand?

Multiply your hourly labor cost by your hand-fill time per cone in minutes, then divide by 60. Enter your time in the calculator to see it next to your cost per cone with Humboldt Filling Machines.

Can I increase capacity later?

Yes. Keep your vibration table and swap to a higher-capacity cartridge. On the 109mm King, step from 55 to 121 cones per session; every cartridge includes its own riser and tamping tool. Bigger cartridges go up to 389 cones per session in the 300 Series, which runs on the VB2.

Which kit should I buy for 500 cones a day?

For the fewest sessions, the 300 Series. A 121-cone kit covers 500 cones in 5 sessions a day; a 300 Series kit (315 to 389 cones) covers it in 2. The estimated loading, filling and tamping time is the same either way, 500 × 60 ÷ 121 = 247.9 minutes, about 4.1 hours, and the 300 Series means 3 fewer unloads a day. Pick either kit above to see its own payback.

See your payback, then get filling.
Shop all Starter Kits →

Lifetime warranty: if anything breaks, Humboldt Filling Machines replaces it, for the life of the unit. · 30-day returns: unused kits, cartridges and the C-ONE, with no restocking fee. · Made and shipped from Humboldt County, CA.

Questions? Email info@humboldtfillingmachines.com or text the shop at (707) 296-1355. The shop is at 1806 E St, Ste A, Eureka, CA 95501, and visits are by appointment only.
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