The King Kone fills 169 cones per run. That number is fixed — it's the tray. Everything else about your hourly output is a variable you control, and most people asking "how many per hour" are actually asking the wrong question.
Your real output is 169 × the number of complete cycles you finish in an hour. The machine sets the 169. You set the rest.
Capacity is not throughput
Every machine on the market advertises capacity. Capacity is the easy number — it's a physical count of holes in a tray.
Throughput is what you actually walk away with at the end of a shift, and it includes the parts nobody puts on a spec sheet: loading cones into the tray, running the cycle, unloading, weighing, twisting, and doing it again. A machine with a big tray and a slow handling loop loses to a smaller machine with a tight one.
So the honest answer to "how many pre-rolls per hour" is a formula, not a number:
Cones per hour = 169 × (60 ÷ your minutes per complete cycle)
Find your row
Here's what that looks like in practice. "Minutes per cycle" means the full loop — load the tray, run it, clear it, reset.
| Minutes per cycle | Runs per hour | Cones per hour |
|---|---|---|
| 5 minutes | 12 | 2,028 |
| 10 minutes | 6 | 1,014 |
| 15 minutes | 4 | 676 |
| 20 minutes | 3 | 507 |
| 30 minutes | 2 | 338 |
Time yourself for three consecutive runs and take the average. That's your number, and it's more useful than any figure printed on a box.
The bottleneck is the tray, not the machine
This is the part that actually changes your output, and almost nobody talks about it.
The machine's run time is fixed. What varies — enormously — is how long the tray sits idle while a person loads 169 cones into it by hand. During that entire stretch, your machine is doing nothing. You bought a production tool and it's parked.
The fix is a second tray set. One tray runs on the machine while the next 169 cones get loaded into the spare. The moment a run finishes, you swap, and the machine goes straight back to work. Loading stops being downtime and becomes something that happens in parallel.
For any operation running more than a couple of hours a day, a spare tray set is usually the highest-return accessory you can buy. It costs a fraction of the machine and can meaningfully lift daily output without changing anything else about your process.
Cone size changes your gram math
The King Kone ships with attachments for three sizes: 84mm, 98mm, and 109mm. Same 169 cones per run regardless — but very different output by weight.
- 84mm (1¼ size) — roughly half a gram per cone. About 85 grams per run.
- 98mm — sits between the two.
- 109mm (King size) — roughly one gram per cone. About 169 grams per run, just under six ounces.
That's the figure worth internalizing: on King-size cones, one tray run is close to six ounces of finished product. At a ten-minute cycle, that's over two pounds an hour.
If you're running straight tubes or non-standard diameters, additional tray tops cover 60mm and 70mm cones, and conversion kit inserts handle straight tubes from 9mm through 14mm — all at the same 169 per run.
Is it worth it versus hand-rolling?
Run your own numbers rather than trusting anyone's marketing. The math is simple:
- Time how long it takes your staff to hand-fill and finish 169 cones.
- Multiply by your loaded labor rate.
- Do the same for a King Kone cycle.
- The difference is your hourly saving. Divide the machine cost by that figure and you have your breakeven in hours.
The honest answer depends entirely on your labor cost and your volume. If you're filling a few hundred a week, hand-rolling may still genuinely win. If you're filling thousands, the arithmetic stops being close.
The other half of the argument isn't speed at all — it's consistency. The vertical bounce mechanism packs every cone in the tray to the same density, and that density is adjustable. Hand-packing drifts between operators, between shifts, and between the first cone of the day and the last. For anyone selling into a regulated market where weight tolerance matters, uniformity is often the real reason to buy.
KING KONE Pre-Roll Filling Machine →
Frequently asked questions
How many pre-rolls does the King Kone fill at once?
169 cones per run. That's fixed by the tray and doesn't change with cone size.
How many pre-rolls can it fill per hour?
Output equals 169 multiplied by the number of complete cycles you finish per hour. At a ten-minute cycle that's roughly 1,014 cones per hour; at fifteen minutes, roughly 676. Time your own three-run average to find your real rate.
What cone sizes does it handle?
It ships with attachments for 84mm, 98mm, and 109mm. Additional tray tops cover 60mm and 70mm cones, and conversion kit inserts handle straight tubes from 9mm to 14mm.
How many grams is one run?
Roughly 85 grams on 84mm cones, and roughly 169 grams — just under six ounces — on 109mm King-size cones.
What actually limits production speed?
Loading cones into the tray, not the machine cycle. Running a second tray set so one loads while the other runs is the most effective way to raise daily output.
What power does it need?
110 volt standard. The unit measures 8 x 9.5 x 12 inches, so it fits on a standard bench without a dedicated circuit or special installation.