The evolution of formwork in precast has seen the industry move away from traditional forms using steel angles to a modular system using magnets and aluminium formwork systems. However, a gap still remained for a cost-effective way to deal with non-standard openings and edges. To address this issue, Actech introduced Polyform to the market in 2018.
Polyform formwork is a revolutionary approach to how precast panels can be made, and represents the latest evolution in formwork.
As aluminium is a durable product, most precasters do not want to cut this down. Instead, they use a combination of structural timber, plywood and plastic fillets to make the custom formwork shapes as required. As you can imagine, this timber combination is expensive, time and labor-consuming and with usually single-use only. Polyform aims to solve this problem by providing a cost-effective and more efficient All-In-One solution.
You can see it for yourself in the images below. On the left, you have the conventional approach of developing a custom formwork and on the right is the revolutionary Polyform. We will further discuss the practicality of Polyform with a case study a bit later in this blog post.
The greatest benefit is the fact that Polyform does not require the nailing or gluing of fillets to the formwork – just cut it to the desired length or join cut pieces to make up your desired length.
Polyform is designed to provide a quick and easy connection to the formwork service by using the patented Kling-On Magnet’s wedge profile. This profile can also be retrofitted to other established branded magnets as well.
The first line art depicts the two chamfers of 12 mm and 15 mm. They are available in either 2.9 or 5.8 metre lengths.
The second line art depicts the polyform without any chamfer. They are only available in 5.8 metre lengths.
The case study below further illustrates the benefits of Actech’s Polyform range of products. One of our clients based in Melbourne would previously use the conventional approach of building custom formwork.
We can see from the images below that our client has spent a considerable amount of time building the custom formwork by first cutting the timber to a desired length and width. They followed that up by nailing and gluing the fillet. All of this had to be done prior to even thinking about pouring the concrete. You can imagine the time it would have taken to achieve this task.
However, this was no longer the case when they started using Polyform. As you can see from the image below, the Polyform is easily cut into the desired length. Furthermore, formwork magnets can easily be installed by using an adaptor plate.
Our client has also benefited from the fact that Actech’s Polyform has the same profile as that of Actech’s aluminum formwork. Here is an image where the two are working seamlessly together.
Here, we can see that the polyform is cut into desired lengths and our client also demonstrates how easy it is to attach one of our patented Kling-On Magnets to hold the polyform in place.
As mentioned before, Actech’s Polyform is also compatible with formwork magnets from other brands.
Lastly, from the image below, we can also see that the Polyform can easily be cut and shaped to form internal and external corners, which are ideal for making windows and doorways.
Send your inquiry here and our experts will do their best to help you.
