$299 Vacuum former? VacuumSnap Ultimate Desktop Vacuum Former

mhariush

mhariush

Well-Known Member
RPF PREMIUM MEMBER
Has anyone read or looked at this? Or is there anyone on this forum that is part of making this?

No affiliation, I just came across it on Facebook I think and they're launching a Kickstarter tomorrow. The launch price is $299 I think, 38% off. It looks very affordable, for what is it.

Is this possibly legit? I know the saying , if it's too good to be true... But then again, this is very old tech, right? So it should be possible to make something decent for a low sales cost?

www.kickstarter.com

Coming soon: VacuumSnap - The Ultimate Desktop Vacuum Former

Set Your Creativity Free with Effortless Desktop Vacuum-Forming
www.kickstarter.com www.kickstarter.com
 
Not much info on the size of that vacu-form machine...could be legit for small project maybe:unsure:
 
joberg said:
Not much info on the size of that vacu-form machine...could be legit for small project maybe:unsure:
Click to expand...
yeah, there were some more information on this facebook ad for the campaign, but I can't find it. I guess we'll know more tomorrow. Looks potentially promising though?
 
joberg said:
Not much info on the size of that vacu-form machine...could be legit for small project maybe:unsure:
Click to expand...
I looked into these when it popped up on instagram a week or two ago. I believe it’s a 16 x 16 inch bed.

I’m not a fan of kickstarter so anytime I see something on there I do a cursory dive.

The company is based in Massachusetts but I couldn’t find them as a registered business anywhere, same with said owner of business.

Not to say that it isn’t legit but that’s enough for me to pass on this until it’s an actual product. And if anything there will probably be a clone machine available shortly if this thing ever does get made.
 
yeah, I couldn't find anything about them either, which does sound a little suspicious. And Kickstarter can be a finicky beast. I haven't done many things there, but all the ones I have did go through.

And you're right, there will probably be a lot of clones if this becomes a success...
 
If a deal sounds like its too good to be true, it usually is. Despite a few Kickstarter successes, there are hundreds of failures so be wary. If you can afford to lose 300 bucks...go for it.

TazMan2000
 
You honestly could make a small vacuum-former for the price of one of these anyway. Two small shop vac's, some lumber, a perforated board, and a trip to the second-hand shop for a portable electric stove or space heater is all you need to build something of that size. That's well under 300 USD and likely 300 USD to buy those supplies new.

Honestly, it all sounds a bit iffy on my end. I have backed exactly 100 products on Kickstarter, small to large projects, before I gave up on it forever and it was just so I can get an average across the site. Out of 100 backed projects varying across the board, exactly half of them have followed through on their timeline and rewards. Now, that doesn't mean that the item or product in itself was any good or as useful as advertised. About half of that are things I have still kept and are in "working" order. That's a 50% rate on item delivery, and a 50% rate on that item being any kind of quality.

On a side note, I backed a lot of video game projects and a good lot them are just released in a perpetual "beta" state that the dev team works on until they get tired of it and leave it. That is the most frustrating thing with Kickstarter. You either nothing, or get something that's left unfinished or, worse, it's straight crap on release. A lot of these backed things get better after they produce the Kickstarter items, as they're essentially prototypes, and depending on the project run, a wider reach will draw a wider pool of results which the company or whoever can take feedback from and actually produce the intended product years down the line. Even those are few and far in-between.
 
Hmm, the address they have on their emails, 1452 Alexander Ave Aubrey, Texas 76227, seems to no exist, starting to get a feeling of dread. I asked about it in a comment, let's see if they respond
 
Unfortunately, I've noticed that this has been happening a lot lately. There was a guy from Russia, who was selling Star Wars helmets online, and after the invasion of Ukraine, he updates some of his information, and creates pseudo profiles in the UK to make you think he is working from there. Most people would probably just see the address and take for granted that it is actually a valid business address. Few would actually go to Google Maps and verify it.

TazMan2000
 
The quality looked iffy. I know this is a prototype but I wasn't sold on how uneven the melt was and the fact they had some demos end with a big fold or crease down the styrene made me feel like they couldn't even bother to do a second take.

Kickstarter is honestly a den of the people who couldn't get an actual backer. The exceptions I make are legitimate companies pooling interest in a new product (I see a lot of established 3d printer companies fund a new model this way) or if it is some indie product that has a very low cost to enter. Some graphic novel, album, or short film.

Video games run out of money or enthusiasm when they don't have a big distributer backing them to push them forcefully forward. Products quickly lose features when that amazing prototype ends up being way more temperamental or straight up imagined. If the product is any good at all a real company will knock it off properly.
 
I was a backer, but my sense of self preservation prevailed and I backed out. It has scam written all over it. I look forward to being wrong and paying full price, but in the mean time they're aren't getting this nerd's money
 
I was going to back, but now I'm just holding off. The fact that they had their goal so low at 10k feels a little shady. Since that would be a very easy target to hit, and they get to cash out when the campaign closes...

Let's see if it hits Amazon and their website in July.
 
One thing that I noticed just a few minutes ago when I went to their website is that, according to their information, the "desktop" machine would weigh about 110 pounds.
 
Here's another detail I noticed in the text on their Kickstarter page: "The machine is circular in shape with a forming area measuring 400x400x160 mm, large enough for even the most demanding tasks. With its circular shape, it can manufacture small products simultaneously with high efficiency."

If you've seen the pictures and/or videos of a vacuum former on that same page and/or elsewhere -presumably the vacuum former the Kickstarter is for - you know that it could scarcely be farther from circular.
 
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