Every material that you purchase directly from us are completely safe and don't need extra safety precautions. This means that our PET, PP, TPU, LDPE & HIPS, are 100% safe to vacuum form and do not release any toxic gas.

Some materials might experience a slight odor nuisance, but there is no extra ventilation needed, nor are they harmful to humans or animals. 

Our machines have a lot of different pre-programmed materials, which aren't available in the MyYard matrials selection. 

Not all the programmed materials are 100% safe and might require an extra ventilated room. 

 

Different materials: 

• PMMA: These are cast acrylic sheets. The thicker the material, the less detailed your form will be. Even at 0.6mm thickness, there is little detail to be found. How thicker the sheets and how higher the domes you have to keep into account that the shape can collapse, because PMMA loses some strength after being heated.  
• PVC: It can be formed and is available in sheet material, but heating it can release toxic fumes. It also has a strong odor. We strongly suggest extra ventilation and discourage the use of PVC sheets. 
• PC: Also possible to form, but can release the gas ‘Bisphenol A’ when heated too high. Long term exposure can lead to health issues such as infertility. Short term damage is also possible in the form of irritation of the eyes, skin and pulmonary. We strongly discourage the use of polycarbonates (PC) without proper training and safety measures. Recommend before forming: Use the build in dehumidify function at least once or twice to ensure no moisture it left in the material to ensure a perfect surface finish.
• ABS: This material is known for creating VOCs, these are volatile organic compounds, which means they evaporate quickly. Still, some of these VOC’s are flammable, so take care when using this material while vacuum forming. Recommend before forming: Use the build in dehumidify function at least once or twice to ensure no moisture it left in the material to ensure a perfect surface finish.

All of these materials are pre-programmed into the vacuum former, with recommended temperatures. As long as these recommendations are not overwritten, the material is not heated up to its melting point, and there is less risk of the formation of any gasses, in high volumes. 

But we highly recommend to first look up the details of the material before forming and always take the recommended precautions.

If the user wants to test or use materials that are not programmed into the vacuum forming machine, he can save them in one of the 5 still open settings.

They are called User1 to User5.

When you change the settings of these profiles, it will be saved onto the machine for future use. As soon as the user has found the perfect settings, he can adjust them in the system so he does not have to adjust them every time. 

You can use any existing objects, 3D printed parts or etc....

When designing the mold, you need to consider the design of the extraction angle (> 3°) to ensure that the mold can come out smoothly. You also need to pay attention to the flatness of the mold.

Avoid: using a mold with water or debris, which may draw in the pipeline and cause damage to the pump module. We recommend to always clean your object before molding.

In the process of vacuum forming, the vacuum force will exert pressure on the mold. If you are using ready-made objects, you should pay attention to whether they are thin shells or fragile objects, it is recommended to add more internal support structures to make the forming process more stable.

FORMART SE, 2 & S vacuum formers can accept objects with a height up to 160 mm.
The maximum forming area of FORMART SE & 2 is 470 mm x 270 mm, for the FORMART S is this 300 x 205 mm.
Do keep in mind that when an object is 160 mm in height but very small in width it will be harder to vacuum. The model always needs to have a moderate height to width ratio.

Although the 3D printed products are not heat resistant, the forming process does not necessarily hurt them because the plastic sheet is very thin and cools down very quickly.

According to our tests:

• PLA printed products can be molded about 3~5 times
• ABS printed products can be molded about 30~50 times
• Resin printed products can withstand hundreds of times.

If you are still concerned about the durability of the mold, we recommend that after the first plastic shell is formed, you first make a stronger and more durable mold by casting cement or plaster, and then proceed with the quantitative production work.

For optimal scanning, place the QR Code facing downward on the machine, the lens will initiate an automatic scan. The QR code is situated on the bottom right of the original MY YARD material sheet.

If the sheet is not detected, you can move the sheet up and down to allow the lens to refocus.

FORMART SE, 2 and S are equipped with a power failure protector.

If the power failure protector is activated, please do not reset it by yourself immediately, please contact [email protected] first to confirm the safety of the equipment.

The thickness of the plastic sheets that can be used in our Formart vacuum machines are in the range of 0.3 mm~3.0 mm.

FORMART 2, SE & S has the most complete material data base built-in, such as PLA, TPU, FPC, PET, HIPS, PS, PETG, HDPE, PE, ABS, PP, PVC, PMMA, PC, KYDEX, PSU... etc. 

FORMART can be used with any sheets from any supplier, due to the most complete database of materials in the world, so most of the commercially available plastic sheets can be easily configured and selected without any difference.

But the Formart 2 has the built-in advantage when using our MYYARD materials, the build in auto recognizing of our materials makes entering the correct settings even easier!

The plastic frame of FORMART is locked in place by magnets. When you pull down, you may feel that you need to use a lot of force, but once it is past the magnets, it will move very loose & smoothly. Therefore, be sure to hold the handles to help support the frame to avoid injury or damage due to excessive slipping and hitting the bottom.

When the plastic sheet is heated, just gently press the frame down to the bottom, but in order to ensure air sealing, it should be pressed down as close to the bottom as possible, it needs to stay there for three seconds before letting go.

FORMART vacuum forming machines provides two operation modes:

• Standard mode
• Advanced mode modify the heating curve and set the vacuüm level manually (Professional usage)

and four suction options:

• Standard mode is in between
• Rough mode provides the lowest vacuum level
• Fine mode provides highest vacuum level
• Dehumid 

So you can choose according to the type of finished product you want. If you use the FORMART for professional use you can also use the advanced mode to modify the heating curve, even set the vacuum level yourself. The operation is very flexible and simple! If the finished mold is not to your required liking, it can be optimized through the operation mode and working parameters.

The design of FORMART heater is different from other small vacuum forming machines in the market. Generally, desktop vacuum forming machines use steel heating tubes or ceramic heaters, this can make the heating very uneven, which in turn can make the hotter portions of the plastic sheet get overstretched.

FORMART uses industrial grade quartz heaters and is designed to distribute the heat evenly over the entire work area to ensure uniform heating of the plastic sheets and to make the molding thickness more consistent.

The materials from MY YARD that we provide are safe, non-toxic and environmentally friendly. But there may still be some smell during the heating process of the sheet, we recommend to use the machine in a well ventilated area.

We recommend for 3rd party material to always check with your supplier if these can be used in our MY YARD machines. 3rd party materials may release toxic gas when heating, so please avoid using this machine in a confined space.

FORMART is the only tabletop vacuum forming machine with built-in gas reversing valve, which can automatically reverse the air blowing, so that you can remove the mold more easily. However, it still depends on the design of the mold. If the mold has concave sides, high vacuum level, or rough surface, the blowing assist function will not be effective to pop off from the mold.

1. Confirm that the accessories/add ons are installed correctly
   Please check whether the size switching accessory is installed properly, whether the size adjustment bar is indeed buckled into the latch, whether the corresponding size venting base plate is removed, etc. If the accessories are not installed properly, the air sealing will be affected and this will result in vacuum failure.
2. Check if the heating temperature is appropriate
   Please confirm whether the plastic sheet used is a thermoplastic material, and whether the setting temperature has reached a sufficient target temperature before forming.
3. Vacuum setting
   The vacuum level setting is related to the fineness of the finished mold you want. If you want to do packaging, or natural stretch shape, choose a lower vacuum level; if you want to duplicate the mold and need more detail, choose the fine mode.
4. Differences in material properties
   Although most plastics can be thermo formed, different materials and brands have different composition ratios, and even color can affect the temperature setting. If you use a sheet from 3rd party, you can use FORMART's built-in database and follow the instructions to select the material, color, and thickness to reduce the chance of failure through the built-in heating parameters.
5. Whether the mold has proper vent holes
   If there is a recessed feature on the mold, the recessed area must be drilled with appropriate extraction holes (1.5-2mm in diameter), otherwise the recessed area may not be formed correctly.

If the heating temperature of the PET is too high or the heating time is too long, the whitening phenomenon will occur. Please lower the heating temperature slightly, and pull down the frame immediately after the temperature is reached to avoid overheating.

If the heating temperature is too high, some plastic materials may show surface bubbles, wire cracking or whitening(such as PET). In addition, if the vacuum is set to high, the smoothness of the mold surface becomes very important. To solve this it is necessary to polish the mold or treat the surface of the mold.

Bubbles can form if the material has absorbed moisture, to avoid this you can dry out the material before molding.

FORMART 2 is the first vacuum former machine in the world with a built-in dehumidifier function. It uses the heater to warm up the plastic sheet and keep it below 90°C. After the moisture inside the plastic sheet has evaporated, the forming work can proceed. This function is especially important when using the vacuum former machine in a humid climate, in order to reduce the possibility of bubbles in the finished product, 

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