Progress and Pumpkins
over 7 years ago – Thu, Nov 17, 2016 at 11:40:35 AM

Hello there!

Hope you’re all having a wonderful November - just a quick update about FormBox progress and some experiments with tiny pumpkins...

One quick note before we get down to it - the FormBox reservation site is now live. 

Here's the link: https://www.mayku.me/ if you feel like sharing it on your social channels, it really helps us out - thanks so much. 

And now, a little update on FormBox...

Production

Exciting times are afoot. Since starting work with the unstoppable Map Project Office we've gone through a rigorous shakedown of the current machine to make sure it's the safest, greatest product we can possibly bring into the world. 

Making with the FormBox should be a joy. Through Map, we've identified some areas where we can make huge improvements to the machine with some small interventions. These tweaks will make sure the FormBox is incredibly safe for anyone to use. More excitingly - it's going to look stunning, and making with it? It'll be an absolute joy.

Magnets

After extensive testing, we discovered that the magnets holding the trays together lose their magnetism once they get to their ‘Curie’ temperature - a point where the individual electrons start to spin so fast they go out of sync with their electron neighbours. Although fascinating, it’s meant that we’ve had to redesign the entire mechanism for holding the sheets together. Luckily, after trying a multitude of variations, we’ve reached a beautifully elegant solution which is going to have an incredibly satisfying click.

Handles

There’s only really one part of the machine that people will be touching whilst FormBoxing - the handles. We're refining the design of these and making them out of silicon to make sure they never get too hot. 3D printed physical versions of these are being made right now - we'll share them with you as soon as we get them back. 

Top hood

We’re moving the vents from the top of the hood to the side faces and adding an extra layer of insulation to the inside of the hood. These two modifications will make the whole machine much safer and lower the overall operating temperature, giving us much higher chances of passing our safety certification with flying colours. 

Pumpkins…

We’ve been experimenting with making candles with FormBoxed molds and the results are awesome. Check out the video on our Facebook page.

That's all from us for now. We hope you're all having a great winter, 

Ben, Alex & the Mayku team

FormBox design process, preorders and beta testing results
over 7 years ago – Tue, Oct 04, 2016 at 02:20:19 PM

Hello all! How’s it going? Things are heating up at Mayku HQ as we gear up for production. 

Get Involved

We’re getting really stuck into the design of the FormBox but we need you, our lovely backers, to help us make the FormBox even cooler. 

Help us out with some (quite fun) research if you have five minutes by answering these questions: http://bit.ly/2dVhOvy 

And...We'll be giving 30 free sheets to one lucky winner!

Shhh Preorders 

Last week we quietly launched a preorder store - if you know anyone that missed out on the Kickstarter campaign and would like to get their hands on a FormBox at a special price, send them this link: 

http://bit.ly/2dmpLs0 

But be quick, this price is only available until Friday.

FormBoxes in the wild 

Some of our amazing beta testers have been using the FormBox to prototype real products. This is insanely cool for us - like seeing our kid go off to their first day of school. L’Etabli are the Etsy award winning, smallest workshop in East London. They’ve been using the FormBox to package their 3D printed lampshades and my do they look fabulous:

They're running a crowdfunding campaign of their own, check it out here and help them spread the word!

That’s all for now. As always, drop us a line if you have any questions and have a lovely day,

Ben, Alex and the Mayku Team

September update.
over 7 years ago – Wed, Aug 31, 2016 at 12:03:46 AM

Hello friends,

Hope this finds you in good shape and you’ve had a lovely summer.

Read on for the latest goings on at Mayku HQ...

Map Project Office

For many moons we’ve loved, respected and occasionally drooled over the work of the notorious Map Project Office. They’ve helped deliver such Kickstarter gems as Kano, Beeline and Sam Labs.

Map are manufacturing maestros, successfully helping to ship a vast array of beautiful products into the world. It’s our pleasure to announce that we too will be be partnering with them to get the FormBox into production. And don't worry - this won't affect our shipping schedule. 

We’d like to extend a massive thank you to all of our backers (that’s you) for enabling this to happen. We wouldn’t have had the opportunity to work with Map without you. We hope you’re as excited about working with them as we are. The project kicks off next week and we’ll be sure to share every step of the adventure with you. Bon voyage!

Size matters

We know that size matters to some of our backers. During the Kickstarter campaign, many of you asked about extending the size of the bed to accommodate US standard sheet sizes. We’ve now looked into this in great detail and would like to share the results with you...

When we started to build the FormBox, it was really important to us that it fitted neatly on a desktop. 

We based all of our component, packaging, shipping, fulfillment and unit costs on the spec of our prototype. Making these calculations is key to delivering a successful Kickstarter campaign to backers all over the globe without bankrupting ourselves. 

Making even minor changes to these details can have huge impacts to the rest of the machine. For example, extending the bed size means increasing:

• Seal and tray size 
• Amount of heating elements
• Amount of metal used
• Overall weight of the machine
• Size and combined weight of the sheets
• Packaging dimensions (and in turn the shipping cost)
• Space taken up in the warehouse

It’s our mission to deliver you a perfectly working product, at a good price and on time. After having looked into it extensively, we don't think we'd be able to deliver on this promise were we to increase the bed size.

This is not to say we won’t build a larger machine in the future, it’s just that we want to get this one to you first and get it right. And we want it to be great. Really, really great.

Do let us know if you have any questions about this - we’re more than happy to help in any way we can.

Thanks very much and have a lovely day,

Ben, Alex and the Mayku team.

August update
over 7 years ago – Wed, Aug 03, 2016 at 10:28:42 PM

A quick newsflash from Mayku HQ:

Partnership with BackerKit:

Shipping things around the globe is hard - packages go awol, addresses change and ships disappear around Bermuda. To combat against this, we’ve partnered with the experts over at BackerKit to make sure your FormBox arrives safe, sound and on time.

BackerKit are awesome. They're pro's in this game and will be your point of call for all things related to your Kickstarter pledge:

• Changes of address 
• Reward upgrades 
• Failed payments 
• Shipment tracking 

You’ll be in safe hands when we start shipping FormBoxes. You can check your pledge to see what month your FormBox will be delivered but here are the dates again for easy access:

Early Birds - March 2017 

Second Batch - May 2017

Third batch - June 2017

Fourth batch - July 2017

How it works: Backer surveys

With BackerKit, we'll be sending you a survey so you can give us your delivery address and add any bolt on purchases like extra materials or more machines. 

The survey will only be available to our Kickstarter backers so if you would like another FormBox, or know someone that would, the survey will be you last chance to get one at the special Kickstarter price.

The FormBox

The exciting stuff.

We're still on schedule with the development of the FormBox and if we can, we'll aim to deliver earlier than the expected shipping date. We're currently working on:

• Refining the design of the unit.
• Prototyping the unboxing experience and packaging.
• Starting up our beta testing program.
• Sourcing the best materials and suppliers.
• Having lots of fun making stuff.

We'll be posting some pictures soon but in the meantime don'f forget to keep up with our progress on Instagram. 

As per usual send over any questions you might have and have a wonderful day. 

All the best 

Ben, Alex and the Mayku team.

Testing units, Team Mayku and material printing
almost 8 years ago – Fri, Jul 08, 2016 at 08:23:01 PM

Hello everyone, 

Just a quick update to fill you in with what we’ve been up to in the last few weeks…

Test units 

They’re on the way! We’ve ordered six and they’ll be arriving by the end of next week. The Mayku team will be putting them through their paces in experimental sessions to improve any interactions we can and discover new ways of using the machine. We'll share all of our findings with you and be sure to send us any cool ideas you have! 

If you’re London based, we’ll be running testing workshops at our studio - we'll let you know dates as soon as we do.

Hiring

We’re growing! We need spectacular makers to come and help us build the future at Mayku. If that’s you, or you know anyone that might be interested (based in London), here’s a link to the job description. We think it sounds like the coolest job in the world, but then we would say that...

Printing on materials

Yep - this is happening and It's incredibly exciting. We’ve been experimenting with printing onto sheets with a standard inkjet printer. There’s still a lot of work to do before we get the process perfected but first tests are looking positive. We'll keep tinkering and show you the results. What would you print?

 As always, drop us a line if you have any questions or comments and have a lovely day!