{"id":491,"date":"2026-08-04T10:52:07","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T09:52:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/makeinsalford.com\/wiki2\/?p=491"},"modified":"2026-08-04T14:50:25","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T13:50:25","slug":"3d-printing-a-vacuum-form-mould","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/makeinsalford.com\/wiki\/craft-tools\/mayku-multiplier-pressure-former\/491\/3d-printing-a-vacuum-form-mould\/","title":{"rendered":"3D Printing a Vacuum Form Mould"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A quick and easy way to make a mould for the Mayku Multiplier is to 3D print one out of a heat-resistant material. This could be a resin print using the DLP\/SLA machines, or it could be an FDM print on one of the Bambu printers. Whatever material you choose it must be strong enough to resist the pressure of the vacuum forming process and the heat of the softened sheet material, which will sit at around 120\u00b0C – 160\u00b0C depending on what you’re forming.#<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Resin Printing<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

For resin, standard prints will deform under this heat and are not suitable. You need to use a high-temperature resin (e.g. Formlabs High Temp or equivalent), which has a heat deflection temperature high enough to hold its shape under load. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

FDM Printing<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

PETG is the minimum acceptable material as standard PLA will soften and distort almost immediately under the heat of the sheet. PETG holds up reasonably well, but for repeated production runs ASA or PC is a better choice given their higher heat resistance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Print orientation and infill also matter – a mould printed with a low infill percentage will have poor thermal mass and can deflect under vacuum pressure even if the material itself is heat-resistant. Aim for a higher infill (>25% with a rectilinear infill pattern) under mould faces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Increase the number of walls to more than 6 walls, and increase the number of top layers to more than 6 layers. This will help prevent the printed mould from collapsing and deforming, exposing the infill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Design for Moulding<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The mould must be designed to accommodate the pressure\/vacuum forming process. This means taking into account draft angles, sharp corners, and deep cavities which may not form properly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more information about designing thermoforming moulds, check out the Mayku website<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Draft Angle<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Draft angles are required on all vertical faces (>5 degrees is typical) to allow the material to release from the mould. Without draft angle the mould will be locked inside the material due to the high amount of friction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A mould with no draft angle (top) will be exceptionally difficult to release without damaging the part. This is due to the friction from the interaction of the mould and the part being present all the way through the removal process. A lot of effort is required to remove the part, and the part or the mould may be damaged during removal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A moderate draft angle in the pull direction makes removing the part much easier. After only a short distance moved the mould is fully disengaged from the part, and the clearance between part and mould only increases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With a negative draft angle the mould will be forever locked inside the part and cannot be removed without damaging either the part, the mould, or both.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FDM process 3D prints require greater draft angles because of the interlocking effect the layer lines can produce. The high pressure used by the Mayku Multiplier means that these layer lines are picked up in great detail and can create an interlocking effect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cavities<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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A cavity can trap air and prevent the cavity feature from forming properly. You can mitigate this by including a few small vents (1-2 mm in diameter) that passes from the bottom of the cavity to the underside of the part.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You may wish to generously chamfer the underside of the vent where it will meet the base plate so that the larger hole is less likely to be blocked. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is sometimes necessary to include vents around the part in corners to ensure that the part is being formed correctly. You can always add additional vents with a drill if you find a part is not forming properly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don’t forget that deep cavities also require draft angles!<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A quick and easy way to make a mould for the Mayku Multiplier is to 3D print one out of a heat-resistant material. This could be a resin print using the DLP\/SLA machines, or it could be an FDM print on one of the Bambu printers. Whatever material you choose it must be strong enough […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[187],"tags":[69,184,185,183,179,180,182,198,181],"class_list":["post-491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mayku-multiplier-pressure-former","tag-3d-printing","tag-cavity-vent","tag-design-for-moulding","tag-draft-angle","tag-mayku","tag-multiplier","tag-pressure-forming","tag-thermoforming","tag-vacuum-forming"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/makeinsalford.com\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/makeinsalford.com\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/makeinsalford.com\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/makeinsalford.com\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/makeinsalford.com\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=491"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/makeinsalford.com\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":524,"href":"https:\/\/makeinsalford.com\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491\/revisions\/524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/makeinsalford.com\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/makeinsalford.com\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/makeinsalford.com\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}