FormBox Production Update Incl CR survey
over 6 years ago
– Mon, Aug 07, 2017 at 02:01:31 PM
The Latest From Mayku!
Hello fellow makers! Hope this finds you well?
All is go at Mayku HQ! I’m back from a very productive trip to China, Alex has secured our first round of investment and we’ve sent the first FormBox unit to our testing house! Thanks again for all of your support, we quite literally could not have come this far without you and things are really starting to warm up.
For a quick reminder on FormBox shipping times, please see current shipping schedule at the end of this update. As always, ping over an email/comment if you have any questions!
A Whole World of Making
The Mayku Library has come a long and we're really hyped to be able to update you. There'll be a few key parts. First, "The Makers Gallery" where you'll be able to proudly share your own creations and inspire other makers. Second, "Ask" where you'll discover answers or post about any problems you're facing with your projects & recipes. Third, "Projects" where you'll explore videos and access recipes for things to make with the FormBox. And finally "Materials" where you'll learn the best tips and tricks about working with different materials like soap and concrete. If you'd like to see how these might look here's a link to a mockup from our designer. (Warning - it doesn't actually work ;)
But the mock up is just the beginning! We want to invite a few of you to be the first to uncover our world of making, test the platform and provide us with feedback. We have the opportunity to make something incredible here, and with your help we know it can be even better!
We can however only let a limited few in for now, so if you're keen on being an early bird, please click on the link below to complete our quick survey. We'll contact you soon with details if you're in!
APPLY FOR EARLY ACCESS
We've been making some great progress here at Mayku with the production of the FormBox. Here's a little detail on the things we've been working on, what we're waiting for and our next steps. If all goes to plan with the arrival of the latest factory mock up, we'll be on schedule with our current shipping times!
New Heater Attachment
Whilst sending prototypes five thousand miles from East to West, we found that occasionally our custom ceramic heaters would break in transit, so we’ve added a supportive guide rail to each side to make sure that they stay safe and sound.
New Handles & Tray Click
After a couple of weeks of intense testing, we’ve now completed the new tray click and handle design which combines them into a single mechanism.
Testing House & Silicon Buffers
Our first unit has now returned from the testing house with no major red flags which is good news. The front and back top edges just next to the heater understandably get quite hot so we need to add two silicon strips to these to stop the metal from getting overheated. These have now been designed and will arrive with the next mockup.
New Mesh
Our super fine new mesh has massively increased airflow to the models which are placed on the bed. We’re now just working out how to give it a nice soft silicon edge that we can produce at scale. This is happening in parallel with tooling, so as not to hold us back from production.
Packaging & Inner Box Kit
We’ve been working with the great Jaako Tuomivaara and Map Project office to design our packaging and unboxing experience - it’s really shaping up nicely. We’ve also been working with the amazing Tom Robinson to design and manufacture the Maker Pack - it will include a beautifully designed object that will also teach the fundamentals of vacuum forming.
Materials
The materials used with the FormBox are obviously one of the most important aspects of using the machine. We’ve started working with the incredibly talented Materials Council in London to source the finest materials we can find. We’re aiming for the highest recycled content possible without sacrificing quality, and it all seems very promising. We’ll devote an entire update to this when we’ve made some great stuff.
VAT Request
Quick bit of housekeeping - Thank you to everyone who has sent through their business VAT numbers. If you haven't yet had time, we would really appreciate it if you could you kindly complete the super quick submission below.
SUBMIT VAT DETAILS
As always, please feel free to fire away any questions!
All the best,
Ben, Alex & The Mayku Team
July Update
almost 7 years ago
– Thu, Jul 06, 2017 at 01:45:11 AM
Hello again from China everyone!
It’s been a very productive (although slightly wet) week over here, but we have a quick update on the machine, and a more detailed shipping schedule for your perusal.
First of all, thanks very much for all of your understanding in the comments of the last update. It’s really nice to know that so many of you empathise with us and continue to support us in building the best product we possibly can. We know - delays are frustrating - we feel it deeply, but your help and positivity really does keep us going! So a big hats off to you.
We know some of you cannot wait past our original deadline of summer 2017 - it’ll be sad to see you go but please feel free to drop us a line if you need a refund.
Production update
I've now personally overseen the testing of the new click mechanism under heat. After two thousand tries at full power, the new design is still running perfectly. This was a huge relief for us and it means that we can now surge ahead.
The rest of the prototype parts arrived towards the end of last week and the very last will be arriving today. I’ll be spending the rest of my time in China thoroughly testing them myself so we know for sure that they work reliably. Above all, I'll be making sure that the machine is safe for you guys to use.
Detailed shipping schedule
I’ve been speaking with the factory at length about our production and shipping schedules - particularly how we might be able to shave some more time off them. We’re doing our best to get the time down as much as possible without sacrificing the quality or safety of the FormBox.
We’ll be making production runs of the FormBox in steadily increasing batches, ramping up production as we iron out any issues along the way. I'll be back in China in a couple of months to oversee this.
Here is a breakdown of how it's going to work. By staggering the batches we should be able to get each shipment out to you guys slightly faster than we originally anticipated.
Kickstarter first batch (orange):
150 pieces: 50 of these will go out to our first early bird backers. The other 100 will go to various testing houses to be drop tested, shaken, repeatedly used and cooked in an oven (yes, really). These will be pre production units, the very first off the line and will be shipped from the factory in the first week of December.
We’ll need our early bird backers help to test these in the field, finding any tiny issues that we may have missed and reporting back to the factory line so we can make immediate changes. Don’t worry, we’ll replace these early units with brand spanking new machines once you’ve tested them, and we’ll cover the delivery costs.
Kickstarter second batch (green):
The second batch will be split into two shipments. Each containing 400 units. The first of these will ship in the beginning of January 2018, with the second batch shipping two weeks later in mid January.
Kickstarter third and fourth batch (red):
The third and final Kickstarter batches will ship at the beginning of February 2018.
We’ll also continue to do our best to make any other reductions in shipping and production times.
As always, drop us a line if you have any questions, and have a wonderful day!
Ben, Alex and the Mayku team.
FormBox production and new videos.
almost 7 years ago
– Wed, Jun 28, 2017 at 02:36:16 AM
This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.
FormBox Production Update
almost 7 years ago
– Fri, Jun 23, 2017 at 10:28:22 PM
Hello,
Ben here from Mayku, writing from Shenzhen, China!
A quick prototype update:
The latest fully working model looks incredible - It’s so very close to being done but there was a bit of breakdown in communication between ourselves and the factory. Essentially we thought that the prototype had been tested 2000 times under heat but it had in fact only been tested with the heater switched off.
Upon hearing this, I flew out to China last week to review the latest mockup with the factory and ensure we progress to production as quickly as possible. After testing with the heater module on, some issues arose that we’re now on top of fixing.
Believe me, it’s frustrating for us too - and we’re 100% committed to building the best machine we possibly can as quickly as we can.
Here are the problems we have and what we’re doing to solve them:
Tray connection:
We’ve designed the two trays in the FormBox to be able to hold a wide selection of different materials at various thicknesses. These trays hold the materials securely as they’re being warmed up by the ceramic heaters.
The majority of our materials work perfectly but after a batch of extensive testing, we’ve found that slightly thicker pieces of HIPPS (a type of sheet material) generate so much force when it’s being heated that it can separate the trays and destroy what would usually be a perfectly good form.
Instead of restricting the materials that could be used with the FormBox, we’re designing a way to reinforce the locking mechanism between the two trays. Two new design iterations have now been mocked up and arrived in the Shenzhen office today with another on the way.
Top unit connection
After putting the unit through two thousand cycles of test uses (that was fun!) we’ve found a slight issue with how the trays are held aloft, next to the heater. The latches that hold the trays in place have the potential to become weak with exposure to heat over longer periods of time, making them unreliable in the long term. We’re now in the process of re-engineering this mechanism with a much more robust design that will be able to withstand thousands of repeated uses at high temperatures. Mockups of these new parts should be arriving with us on Wednesday for testing.
Auto hoover switch
Thanks again to you guys for enabling us to add this to the machine and to our early beta testers for flagging it as an idea. It’s all working great - you plug your hoover into the back of our machine, and when you pull the trays down it auto - magically switches the hoover on. Awesome. The switch is currently super sensitive so you can occasionally switch it on by mistake which can be a little annoying.
We’re currently thinking of adding a 10 second shut off period between cycles which we’re testing tomorrow. We’ll let you know how how this goes but we’re confident it will eradicate the problem.
The good news
The new bed design improves airflow and looks incredible. Here’s a sneak peek:
The seals will now be much tighter at gripping material and slightly thicker to prevent warping with heat.
We’ve increased the hole size for the hoover tube so we now lose very little suction.
We’ve had some amazing sounds designed by We Are Father - we’ll share these in an update soon.
When will my machine arrive?
The above changes are going to take a bit of time but they are 100% necessary. I personally apologise for the delay but it’s super important to us that we build the best machine we possibly can. Here’s the latest shipping schedule that we’re aiming for:
We’ll do everything we possibly can to move this forward even quicker than we currently are. More to come on this soon.
Please bear with us and thank you so much again for your support, patience and feedback. We cannot wait to get FormBoxes into your hands and see what you do with them. As always, let us know if you have any questions, ideas or plans.
All the best,
Ben, Alex and the Mayku team.
FormBox Production Update & Factory Tour
almost 7 years ago
– Mon, Jun 19, 2017 at 10:23:01 PM
This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.
