Vacuum forming · through partners

Vacuum forming for trays, covers, housings and displays

FabraForma manages vacuum forming and thermoforming from its studio in Powai, Mumbai, with design in-house and forming through vetted partners.

Vacuum forming heats a plastic sheet and pulls it over a mould. It suits large, thin-walled parts where an injection mould would be too costly and printing would be too slow.

What vacuum forming is good for

Machine covers and housings

Large panels and enclosures in ABS or ABS/PMMA, far cheaper to tool than an injection mould.

Trays and inserts

Component trays, tool trays and packaging inserts in HIPS or PETG.

Blister and clamshell packs

Clear PETG or PVC packaging that shows the product.

Display and exhibition parts

Signage letters, point-of-sale shells and stand panels, finished and painted.

Automotive and interior trim

Covers, panels and trim in ABS or ASA for low-volume or aftermarket parts.

Prototype shells

A formed shell to test size and look before committing to a production process.

What it can look like

Formed parts and the printed bucks behind them

Formed sheet parts, and the printed bucks they are formed over.

A white ABS shell vacuum-formed over a matte orange 3D-printed buck, the printed base showing below its trimmed edge, on a workbench — **Printed buck under its formed part**A 3D-printed buck proves the shape before forming and trimming go to a vetted partner.

Light grey textured ABS vacuum-formed cover fitted over a compact benchtop unit at a line-side workstation with an aluminium-extrusion frame — **Textured ABS machine cover**A large textured cover with soft radii, the kind of panel that costs far less to tool than an injection-moulded one.

Stack of nested matte black HIPS vacuum-formed component trays, the top one holding aluminium fittings, on a packing table beside a carton — **Nested HIPS component trays**Pocketed trays that keep parts apart for handling and stack neatly when empty.

Choosing a sheet material

Material decides strength, clarity and cost. These are the common ones.

HIPS:
The cheapest and easiest to form. Good for trays, inserts and mock-ups.
ABS:
Tough and impact-resistant. The usual choice for housings and covers.
PETG:
Clear, tough and food-safe grades available. Common for packaging and guards.
Polycarbonate and acrylic:
Clear and strong, for visors, guards and display covers. Acrylic is the more brittle of the two.
Sheet thickness:
Usually from under 1 mm for packaging up to several millimetres for structural covers. Deep draws thin the wall, which we account for in the design.

How the partner route works

Forming runs through vetted partners

FabraForma does not run vacuum forming machines in-house. We design the part and the mould pattern, prove the shape with printed prototypes, place the forming and trimming with partners we have vetted, and finish and inspect the parts.

One point of contact: FabraForma scopes the job, runs the partner and checks the parts
The partner route is labelled in your quote, never passed off as in-house work
Design, 3D printed prototypes and finishing stay in our Powai studio

See Capabilities for exactly what runs in-house and what goes to partners.

Questions buyers ask

Do you do vacuum forming in-house?

No. Design and prototypes are done in Powai. Forming and trimming are done by vetted partners that FabraForma manages, and the quote says so.

Why vacuum forming instead of injection moulding?

Tooling costs a fraction of an injection mould and is quicker to make, so it suits large parts and runs from a handful to a few thousand. The trade-off is less detail and only one side of the part is controlled.

What quantities make sense?

From prototypes and short runs to a few thousand parts. For very high volumes of small detailed parts, injection moulding usually wins.

Need a formed part?

Send a drawing, a sketch or a sample and the quantity. Replies within 24 hours.

Get a vacuum forming quote