Über dieses Projekt
FormBox: A Desktop Vacuum Former That Makes Beautiful Things
588.775 $
1.745
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The FormBox is a compact vacuum former that gets you making straight out of the box.
Powered by your vacuum cleaner
We’ve designed an entirely new system that lets the FormBox draw suction from any vacuum cleaner. Let yours do more than gather dust.
What is vacuum forming?
Vacuum forming is a large industrial process traditionally found in factories. With the FormBox, we've made it simple and small enough to fit on your tabletop.
From concrete plant pots to customised chocolates, the FormBox has a whole host of different applications. Here’s some things we’ve been working on...
Cast concrete molds from your tabletop
Start your own custom chocolate messaging service
Make small batches of products in a variety of different colours
Create molds for soap... and the dish for it to live in
Make your own little world on a tabletop
Make useful things for your home or business
Produce small collections of terrariums to sell on Etsy
Modify your kids toys and make them unique
Just some of the things we've been making with the FormBox
The Mayku Library is an online platform that lets you share what you're making with the world and see what other makers are creating.
You'll be able to follow project instructions, upload your own projects and get access to great maker content.
We'll be building the Mayku Library to coincide with the delivery of the first FormBoxes so you have lots of great ideas to get making straight away.
We believe everyone is creative. So we've designed the FormBox to be simple enough for anyone to use.
Whether you're a professional creator or a weekend tinkerer, the FormBox is a powerful tool for bringing your ideas to life.
Makers
With the FormBox, create simple forms from everyday items such as potatoes and plasticine, or create more complex creations using other maker machines like 3D printers, laser cutters and CNC machines.
Designers
Use the FormBox to prototype your designs quickly, right from the studio.
Small Businesses
Start making your own line of products at your own pace, without the need for large order quantities from factories.
These are just some of the great rewards available.
There's plenty more to choose from in the rewards section of this page.
Compatible Materials
The FormBox works best with sheet thermo-plastics (plastics that go soft when warmed up). Every FormBox will ship with enough materials to get started. Here's the technical terms :
- Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene ABS (the stuff Lego is made from)
- Polystyrene PS (Commonly found in: Product packaging)
- Polycarbonate PC (Commonly found in: Drinks bottles)
- Polypropylene PP (Commonly found in: Buckets, spades, chairs, everything!)
- Polyethylene (Commonly found in: sheet and foamed sheet)
- PE (Commonly found in: Insulating cases, bottles)
- Polyvinyl Chloride PVC (Commonly found in: straws, plastic pipes)
- Acrylic PMMA (Commonly found in: Light up signs)
- PETg (Commonly found in: Food safe molds)
- HIPS (Commonly found in: Disposable cups)
What Materials can I cast with?
We've had a lot of fun casting objects in molds made with the FormBox. Here's some materials we've been using:
What's in the Box?
The FormBox will come with everything you need to get you making projects as soon as it arrives at your door. Just add your vacuum cleaner. here's what's in the box:
1. FormBox
2. 30 sheets of different types of material
3. Universal vacuum connector
4. Power cord
5. Your first making kit
6. Connector tube
3D Printers, Meet Your New Best Friend
3D printers are awesome. The FormBox makes them even more so. 3D print your piece, place it on the FormBox bed and start replicating shapes in seconds.
Technical Specifications
The tools that we use to make things are getting more complex, more expensive and harder to access. That’s a problem. We think everyone should be able to make things, so we’re building a set of small, simple and affordable tools so anyone can make stuff, wherever they are. The FormBox is our first.
The Future...
The FormBox may be small but we have big plans. By supporting this campaign you’re not only helping us bring the FormBox into the world, but helping us create a whole line of future machines. And we’ve already started working on our next one. Here’s a sneak peak...
Give the Gift of Making
Want to set up a school, library or makerspace with a FormBox? Our 'Give One' scheme is designed to do just that. Let us send a FormBox to an institution of your choice or choose from a list of institutions that have requested one.
We’re a small team based out of Somerset House, London. Ben and Alex started Mayku together after meeting at Mint Digital (Hi Mint!). Together, we've shipped multiple products, fulfilled multiple Kickstarter campaigns and built many websites.
Alex Smilansky:
Alex has spent the last three years working for digital design agencies. He was a product designer and led the strategy team at Mint Digital, where he built websites for clients such as Tesco and the Home Office.
He also designed, built and consulted on a variety of in house projects and startups.
Alex studied Design and innovation at the university of Goldsmiths and Queen Mary's.
Benjamin Redford:
Ben is an inventor and designer who's shipped multiple Kickstarter campaigns before. While at Mint Digital, he worked on Foldable Me, Olly and Polly the web connected robots and launched Projecteo, the Mini Instagram Projector.
He then set up a customised candy company, Candy Mechanics and drew the largest crowdsourced drawing in the world - Internetopia.
The idea for Mayku came to him when he was manufacturing a product in China and realised that many of the machines in the factories there could be miniaturised. Ben studied design at Goldsmiths and has an unhealthy obsession for noodle soup.
Join the Crew
One last plug...
Love making stuff? We want to hear from you. We’re looking for talented individuals with big ambitions to join the team. If that’s you - register your interest here.
The Story so Far...
The Makerthon
We've been testing our machines with users throughout the development process with Makerthons. Thanks so much to everyone who came!
International backers
We'll be shipping Formboxes worldwide. Please note that you may be responsible for duties, fees and taxes applicable to your region.
Know someone who you think might be interested in this project? Share this page with them! We'd really appreciate it.
Risiken und Herausforderungen
As the old saying goes: Hardware is hard.
Luckily, we have a great team who have delivered three Kickstarter projects before. We’re bound to come up against challenges in making the FormBox, but we promise we’ll do everything within our power to make it happen on time and at the high level of quality we set ourselves. Sleepless nights, working weekends, all of the fun that comes with running your own hardware business.
Manufacturing
We’ve partnered with some truly excellent production partners to help us along the way with manufacturing the FormBox. With years of experience in bringing products to market, we’re confident they will help us deliver a top notch product on schedule.
Team
We’re a small team at the moment and in order to make Mayku as great as we want to make it, we need to grow. Hiring is hard and takes a lot of time, but we’ll be patient and considered in our approach, and make sure we build an extremely robust team.
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Finanzierungszeitraum
- (32 Tage)