Review: Formart S – Desktop Vacuum Former

Note: this machine is a kickstarter. Keep in mind that Kickstarter is not a marketplace with any kind of guarantee. Please do your own research into how often hardware kickstarters succeed or fail before opting to support a campaign.

Manufacturer: My Yard

Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/formart/formart-s-industrial-grade-vacuum-former-built-for-desktops

Price: $1,299

specs:

• sheet size: 300x205mm (A4 letter)
• built in 80w pump
• temp range: 60-230c
• max draw depth 16cm

Unboxing and setup

Much like the older bigger version we reviewed in the past, this machine is about as plug and play as it gets. You just pull it out of the box, plug the power cord in, and you’re ready to go.

In use

playing with vacuum formers is so much fun. I don’t really have a necessity for one, so often I’m just putting stuff in there to see how the machine handles different contours and shapes. You can really learn a lot about the process this way.

In my little experiments, I found the machine to be quite capable. The pre-build material library is very convenient and the basic settings got me the desired results most of the time. It has on-screen instructions that guide you through the process.

This machine really is a stripped down version of the bigger older one. Though the materials have qr codes on them, this machine doesn’t have a camera or anything to detect those, so you have to select your material manually. This isn’t difficult or time consuming and frankly is a welcomed cost savings in my opinion, since you’re probably going to be tweaking settings anyway to get the perfect result.

It has a decent enough sized work area, roughly the size of a sheet of copy paper. There is also a nice clear screen with your settings that is easy to read and work with.

The only thing I’d suggest is that each material should ship with a temperature guide. For example, they shipped a packet of 1.5mm LDPE with the machine but that was not in the built in library(seen with the multitool above). You can actually just watch the material heat up and droop but having a known temperature range to aim for, printed on the box of the raw material, would have been nice.

Conclusion

I think that My Yard has hit a pretty good balance between conveniences and price with this machine. Sure, there may be cheaper machines out there such as the FormBox, but the Kickstarter pricing on this machine get it very close, and it has a nice interface and presentation that make it a delight to use.