You Should be Using the Mayku Multiplier Pressure Former - Here are 10 Businesses that Prove It

In this article, you'll discover the Mayku Multiplier's versatility across global fields like design, manufacturing, engineering, consumer products, education, and research, showcasing its seamless integration into diverse settings.

1. Meta

Company Info

Meta, a leading American tech company located in Menlo Park, California, is heavily invested in the development of VR hardware and software. In the fast-paced VR headset market, continuous innovation is crucial. Meta's virtual optical engineering team is dedicated to creating optical modules for headsets planned for release in the next 4-5 years. The new technology integration team actively prototypes optics to assess their viability for mass production, offering valuable insights to the product team. Thermoforming is a significant part of this process, where engineers utilize the Multiplier to fine-tune settings prior to large-scale manufacturing.

Challenges

Mass manufacturing thermoforming setups are typically large and complex, requiring ample space and skilled engineers for operation. Prototyping within these environments is often time-consuming and resource-intensive due to the need to adjust settings for various materials and the extensive use of materials to achieve precise results.

Meta has been utilizing the Multiplier to prototype product casings, significantly accelerating the time-to-market for their VR headsets. This tool has proven invaluable in the fields of design, manufacturing, and engineering by enabling rapid testing and iteration, which drastically reduces development time.

The Multiplier has also enhanced cost efficiency by streamlining processes and cutting down expenses related to prototyping and production. Its in-house use allows for quick modifications and adaptations, optimizing the design process with greater flexibility.

Furthermore, employing the Multiplier instead of traditional industrial setups has provided the team with a deeper understanding of material and design limits, leading to more informed decisions. While large-scale machines are not suited for quick and adaptable prototyping, and smaller vacuum formers lack the detail and wall thickness capabilities, the Multiplier offers a balanced solution that supports rapid iteration and thorough exploration of design possibilities. Understanding the necessary finish level of the forming tool is crucial for achieving high-quality final parts, but testing on large manufacturing machines remains a time-consuming endeavor.

Solutions

The team at Meta leveraged the Multiplier to expedite the testing of specific designs and materials. By implementing a 'closed loop' system, they were able to swiftly produce and test CNC machined aluminum tools, evaluating both their structural integrity and ease of removal. This rapid iteration process facilitated immediate feedback to the product team, allowing for same-day modifications and re-testing, eliminating the delays associated with large-scale processes. This method also enhanced their understanding of design limits across different materials, ensuring optimal efficiency before transitioning to mass production.

2. Dynaudio

Company Info

Dynaudio, a Danish company renowned for its high-quality audio equipment, excels in producing speakers with outstanding sound quality. Their commitment to innovation is evident in their meticulous design and manufacturing processes, particularly in prototyping speaker membranes essential for pristine sound reproduction.

Challenges

Dynaudio's conventional vacuum forming tools were outdated and insufficiently precise for high-fidelity applications, resulting in inconsistent membrane thickness and a substantial shrinkage rate of 30-35% at critical stress points. These issues adversely affected the acoustic performance of their prototype speakers, prolonging the product development process.

Solutions

Dynaudio incorporated the Multiplier's pressure forming capabilities into their R&D processes, which delivered a vital solution by ensuring consistent membrane thickness and reducing material shrinkage to only 10%. This precision was crucial for aligning with design simulations and achieving the specific parameters necessary for optimal speaker performance. The Multiplier allowed Dynaudio to rapidly experiment with various membrane designs, enabling engineers to conduct multiple iterations to test different curvatures and structural enhancements, such as integrated stiffening ribs, crucial for enhancing sound dispersion and overall acoustic integrity.

3. Forma Moulds Ltd

Company Info

Forma Moulds, a UK-based company, specializes in designing and prototyping intricate molds and partners with diverse clients such as Hilton Hotels, Caterpillar, and Grey Goose Vodka.

Challenges

Bandwidth Production, a sound recording and producing company, tasked Forma Moulds with creating intricate silicone molds for guitar pickups, requiring the electrical components to be cast directly within the molds. Crafting these detailed silicone molds is challenging, starting with a master tool that demands precise design elements like draft angles and venting slots.

Although Forma Moulds utilized 3D printing and CNC machining for these tools, the process became cost-prohibitive as production volumes rose. Silicone molding, while less expensive, involves complex steps such as mixing, degassing, and carefully pouring silicone around the tool, which must be repeated for multi-part molds. This labor-intensive and costly method captures high detail but is inefficient for small batches or prototypes.

With the Mayku Multiplier, Forma Moulds achieved faster production times, creating detailed molds in minutes instead of days, and reduced costs by using affordable materials like HIPS. This efficiency improved client satisfaction, enabling quick design approvals and additional mold orders, thereby enhancing value and fostering repeat business.

Solutions

Forma Moulds initially experimented with FDM 3D printing for their molds but found the prints had visible lines, prompting them to switch to high-resolution SLA printing for smoother results. By using these tools with the Multiplier, they crafted an EVA mold in just five minutes, significantly faster than the 24 hours required with silicone. Since the final guitar pickups were to be cast in silicone, they chose to use cost-effective HIPS material for the molds, allowing the soft silicone to be easily removed from the rigid HIPS mold, making the process both practical and economical.

Leveraging the Multiplier, they could produce multiple molds from a single sheet of material, enhancing efficiency. This strategy enabled them to quickly provide their client with ten detailed, cost-effective molds, accelerating the production of custom guitar pickups under a tight deadline.

4. Morrama

Company Info

Morrama, a London-based product design agency, specializes in creating sustainable, innovative, and aesthetically pleasing designs for top global brands and startups.

Challenges

Morrama was tasked with designing a new product to minimize plastic usage in monthly contact lens cases, which can accumulate bacteria and pose eye health risks, leading to frequent disposal. This practice results in significant plastic waste, with millions of cases produced and discarded each year. Selecting the right material was crucial to ensure the contact lenses were protected without contaminating the solution.

Morrama faced challenges in prototyping thin-gauge materials with 3D printing and CNC machining due to their fragility, and neither method could produce transparent parts. While medical-grade 3D printing was an option, it was prohibitively expensive. Although they needed a precise 0.5 mm prototype quickly, initiating injection molding too early would have been both costly and risky.

Solutions

Morrama leveraged the Multiplier to prototype a thin-gauge cup by SLA 3D printing a male mold, optimizing the design for pressure forming with 0.5 mm PETG. This method enabled them to test fit, tolerance, and material functionality, producing optically clear prototypes that closely resembled the final product. By bypassing expensive tooling and enabling rapid iterations, they significantly cut down on development time and costs, accelerating the product's market launch.

5. Oertli Instrumente AG

Company Info

Oertli Instrumente AG, a Swiss company, specializes in producing premium surgical devices and instruments for ophthalmology, the medical field dedicated to eye disorders. Their R&D facility, located in the St. Gall Rhine Valley, is outfitted with various manufacturing technologies, including SLA and FDM 3D printers for prototyping.

Challenges

Oertli encountered difficulties in developing hardware, especially concerning medical equipment packaging. The prototyping process was sluggish, with outsourced iterations taking up to three weeks each. While the R&D team used FDM 3D printing for visual prototypes, these lacked functionality due to the inability to print thin walls and flexible undercuts. Final functional prototypes were crafted by a packaging supplier, necessitating multiple rounds of feedback and revisions to refine the design.

Solutions

The R&D team incorporated pressure forming with the Multiplier into their prototyping workflow, enabling them to produce high-fidelity prototypes with a tolerance of ±0.1 mm, a precision unattainable with other technologies like standard vacuum forming. This shift reduced their design iteration cycle from three weeks to just one day and slashed prototyping costs by over 90%. The seamless integration of the Multiplier allowed them to fully control the prototyping process in-house, and its success prompted other teams across the company to adopt the technology for its high quality and rapid production capabilities.

6. Design Innovation, Inc.

Company Info

Design Innovation Inc, a prototype fabrication company in the USA, collaborates with tech startups, university labs, and government labs. They employ various fabrication methods, such as 3D printing, CNC milling, and glass shaping, to craft customized products with exceptional aesthetic quality. A significant aspect of their fabrication process involves mold making, traditionally done by milling large blocks of aluminum.

Challenges

Aluminum is commonly used for mold making, but mistakes in the milling process can be expensive. Even flawlessly machined molds demand considerable effort to eliminate milling marks, resulting in lengthy cycle times and a "do it once" mentality that limits flexibility and experimentation. Multi-part molds often create witness lines, which are visible seams where mold sections join. These lines are undesirable in high-precision or aesthetically sensitive applications, as they can detract from the final product's appearance and quality.

Solutions

Design Innovation shifted from CNC-milled aluminum molds to using pressure forming with the Multiplier. They 3D printed the tools in sections using high-temperature resin via SLA. Once assembled, any visible seams were filled with epoxy and UV-cured resin, then sanded to create a seamless finish. The tool was then pressure formed with 1 mm PETG, framed in plywood to create a mold, and coated with epoxy to produce a refractory form for shaping glass in a kiln.

The Multiplier provided quicker production times and greater precision, resulting in smoother finishes than CNC-milled aluminum molds, which reduced the need for post-processing. PETG molds are more cost-effective to produce than CNC aluminum molds, especially for small batch productions. Additionally, the Multiplier eliminated the need for costly materials and extensive post-milling labor.

7. Patisserie Chef Phillip Khoury

Company Info

Philip Khoury, the head pastry chef at Harrods in London, manages the development and creation of pastries and chocolates for the Harrods food hall, cafés, and bespoke projects for high-net-worth clients. With a background in product design and engineering, Philip leverages his expertise to bring innovation to the chocolate industry.

Challenges

Producing high-grade polycarbonate chocolate molds is both expensive and time-consuming. Mold-making companies develop seasonal designs for mass production, but these molds require months to create. Once available, chocolatiers worldwide are confined to using the same molds, limiting the variety of 3D shapes and textures, even though flavor and finish creativity abound. Custom molds take 8–12 weeks to prepare, with setup fees running into the thousands and minimum order quantities being prohibitively high.

While large manufacturers can develop custom molds, the process is costly and often not worth the investment. The design phase involves extensive iterations, constrained by mass production requirements. Initial samples are vacuum-formed but lack detail, necessitating costly and precise steel tooling for injection molding. High tooling expenses and large MOQs render custom projects commercially impractical for many chocolatiers.

Solutions

Philip devised a quick and straightforward workflow using SLA 3D printing and the Multiplier to accomplish a project that would have been economically unfeasible otherwise. His ferris wheel project required the creation of numerous unique, intricate, and finely detailed molds. Once cast in chocolate, these pieces were assembled like building blocks to form a free-standing, moving chocolate sculpture.

Philip estimated that traditional mold production would have cost thousands, if not tens of thousands, of pounds, rendering the project financially impractical. By combining 3D printing with pressure forming using the Multiplier, he was able to produce molds in-house and create twelve of these unique sculptures in time for the Harrods Christmas sale.

8. Smile Brilliant

Company Info

Smile Brilliant, a U.S. brand, focuses on dental hygiene solutions, offering products such as whitening trays and night guards designed to enhance oral care and improve dental health.

Challenges

Prior to adopting the Mayku Multiplier, Smile Brilliant used a Mini Star pressure former that restricted production to a single tray at a time. Although this method was effective, it limited the company's capacity to scale operations efficiently.

Solutions

The integration of the Multiplier revolutionized Smile Brilliant's production process by allowing the simultaneous creation of up to 20 dental trays. This marked a significant increase in production speed compared to the previous single-tray system, all while maintaining a similar cycle time and keeping operations entirely in-house. The Multiplier's user-friendly design ensured that all staff could operate it without needing specialized training.

With the Multiplier, Smile Brilliant transformed its approach to dental hygiene products, particularly in specialized applications. The shift from single to multiple tray production significantly reduced the time and labor required for manufacturing dental trays. This scalability enabled the company to manage larger order volumes and respond more swiftly to customer demands. Despite the increased production output, the quality of the dental trays remained consistently high. The Multiplier's precise pressure forming capabilities and auto-leveling system ensured that each tray met the stringent standards necessary for dental use. Additionally, it allowed for easy customization of trays to meet individual customer needs.

Adopting the Multiplier allowed Smile Brilliant to keep all manufacturing processes in-house, granting them complete control over production quality and timelines. This capability helped maintain high standards and adapt quickly to market changes or new business opportunities.

9. Rapid Fluidics Ltd

Company Info

Rapid Fluidics Ltd focuses on creating cutting-edge microfluidic chips for use in medical diagnostics and scientific research. They sought a quick, economical solution to manufacture larger quantities of these chips utilizing materials suitable for large-scale production.

Challenges

Producing microfluidic chips through conventional small-batch methods is both time-intensive and expensive, frequently necessitating costly injection mold tooling. This method proved impractical for smaller production runs and hindered Rapid Fluidics' capacity to swiftly launch new products, whether their own or those of their clients, into the market.

Solutions

Rapid Fluidics seamlessly integrated the Multiplier into their workflow, recognizing its potential to transform their production capabilities. By leveraging advanced pressure forming technology, they were able to significantly speed up the prototyping process. This innovation allowed them to produce smaller batches of microfluidic chips efficiently and cost-effectively, eliminating the need for expensive tooling traditionally required in manufacturing. As a result, Rapid Fluidics could swiftly adapt to market demands and explore new product opportunities with greater flexibility and reduced overhead costs.

10. Wimbledon College of Arts

Company Info

At Wimbledon College of Arts, students are frequently trained in the creation of prosthetic facial appendages for dramatic purposes, providing them with practical experience and professional techniques utilized in the film, theater, and entertainment sectors.

Challenges

Silicone casting techniques are commonly employed to hone student skills, yet casting a plaster appendage and wax sculpture in silicone is both costly and time-intensive. Each cast demands up to £30 in silicone and requires at least 24 hours to cure. The process is also messy, necessitating a vacuum chamber to eliminate air bubbles before pouring. Furthermore, standard vacuum formers cannot capture the intricate details of a handcrafted wax sculpture, rendering them unsuitable for such detailed work.

Solutions

Technicians at Wimbledon College of Arts replaced the silicone molding process by using the Multiplier to form 1.5 mm EVA sheets over plaster casts. The porous nature of plaster eliminated the need for air holes, ensuring perfect forms. The Multiplier achieved detail levels of less than one micron with EVA sheets, accurately replicating the sculpt—something vacuum forming couldn't achieve. Each EVA sheet costs £10, offering a 70% cost savings per project, and the process took just 15 minutes, compared to the 24-hour curing time for silicone. Additionally, EVA forming was much cleaner, requiring no pre-processing steps like vacuum chamber degassing.

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