Boss chamber machines are a fixture in UK independent butchery, often bought through a local catering equipment dealer and run daily for a decade or more. They're German-made conventional chamber machines: put the filled pouch in, close the lid, evacuate, seal. Smooth PA/PE pouches are the film, and that's what we make. This guide covers sizing and settings, and the sizes butchers actually run on them.
Sizing
Boss sells single-bar tabletops through to double-chamber floor machines with two long bars. Measure the bar and subtract 20mm for the widest pouch. On a typical 420mm tabletop bar that's 400mm, which puts the whole of a butcher's day-to-day range in reach.
The butcher's guide goes cut by cut, and the size index lists everything.
Settings on a Boss
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65 micron: full vacuum and the standard seal setting. Boss machines typically seal with a wide flat bar that gives a broad weld, so our film seals at the default without adjustment.
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130 micron: one step more seal time. Press the first pack and look for a continuous seal line.
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Vacuum level: full for joints and primals, 90 to 95% for sliced cooked meats and anything soft. Most Boss models let you set a percentage or a time.
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Double chamber models: run two or more pouches per cycle across each bar. Leave 20mm between pouches so the openings don't overlap on the bar.
Bone-in on a Boss
Because Boss machines live in butchers, bone-in is the pouch problem we hear about most from their owners. The machine is doing its job; it's the bone tip going through 65 micron film at full vacuum. Cover the tip with a guard, drop the vacuum a few percent, or move that product onto the 130 micron pouch. The bone-in guide goes through it in order of cost.
Machine care that affects the seal
Three things on a busy Boss that show up as pouch problems and aren't: worn PTFE tape on the seal bar (peeling seals), a hardened silicone counter bar (patchy seals), and pump oil gone milky from packing wet product (chamber not reaching full vacuum, loose packs). All three are quick fixes through your dealer. If a seal fails and the tape's fine, send us a photo and we'll look at the film side.
Same film across the counter
If you've got a Boss on the counter and an older Turbovac or Henkovac in the back, the same pouches run on both. Smooth PA/PE is standard. The Turbovac and Henkovac guides cover those.
Setting up a new counter? Tell us the machine and we'll send a free sample pack in the four sizes most butchers run.
