Review: Mayku FormBox - Industrial Grade Vacuum Forming on Your Desktop. - 3D Wholesale

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Meet the new kid on the block! Unlock new speeds, quantities, and capabilities in your manufacturing workflow.

The Mayku FormBox is a vacuum former that creates a mold from plastic so you could duplicate your design endless time. It works with no fancy technology, and it is pretty simple to understand and use.

The Mayku teams have put tremendous effort into making this machine easy to use and beginner-friendly. We could reasonably say that everyone, including non-technical people, could use it without hassle. It's wonderfully simple and makes molds quickly.

How it works

Probably you're now wondering what in the world is a vacuum former? So basically, it is a ceramic heater on top that heats up a plastic sheet on a tray. You put in the bottom an object that you want to create a mold of, should it be a household object such as a spoon or a mug, or you could print something cool with your 3D printer. Then you lower the tray on top of the thing you want to replicate, and it shapes itself around the object, and woop! a mold is created. But for it to shape around nicely, you need a suction power from the bottom that makes sure that there is no air between the object and the mold, so here comes your vacuum cleaner into action. You plug in your regular vacuum cleaner in the back of the FormBox, and when you lower the tray, it will activate the vacuum and start to suction, and the plastic would seal around the model.

See it live, and you will get the concept instantly!

Vacuum Forming Fundamentals

Even duo it sounds interesting and exciting, vacuum forming has its limitations. Here are the main 4 of them.

Undercuts -- Because the plastic wraps around the model from all sides except the bottom, if your model is wider on top than the bottom, you will not be able to separate the mold from the model.

Undercuts - avoid while vacuum forming

Drafting angles -- To allow quick and easy removal of the plastic mold, you need to take drafting angels into your mind, so instead of doing straight walls on your object, consider doing it with a slight Bent.

Drafting edges

Air-flow -- You have to ensure that air is accessible everywhere around the object because if not, the plastic wouldn't shape out there.

Height/width ratio -- be aware that the plastic stretches and thins out on the object, which means that the bigger and higher the object is, the thinner the plastic becomes.

Avoid tall models when vacuum forming

The Mayku Features

Unboxing -- The unit arrives assembled and ready to go. The design is simple, sturdy, bright, fun, and analog. No tools provided or needed, just plug the power cord into the unit and attach your vacuum cleaner to provide the suction.
Easy and straightforward -- All of the controls are designed with ease of use in mind. A timer helps you keep track of how long your plastic has been under the heater and a knob numbered 1 to 6 for the temperature. The bigger the number, the hotter it gets. How hot you need it to be and how long you need to grill your plastic Sheet depends on the material you are using.
Build Quality -- The FormBox picks up texture finer than a grain of sand - so you get all those little details you need to stand out from the crowd.
Speed -- Make molds in seconds to speed up your creation. No more waiting for a 3D print to finish.
Compact -- Measures just 466 by 274 mm on your desktop. Not bad at all, if you are limited in space, though it does mean you don't get much room to create with either.
Materials -- All sorts of stuff can be molded by the plastic molds the FormBox produces. The Mayku-branded cast sheets are food-safe and reusable, so the potential to create lasting molds for repeated use is here.