All over the developed world, the foundries have found additive manufacturing process useful and they have been incorporated into the foundry processes. In the sand-casting foundries, they are either used to produce sand moulds or used to produce patterns for sand moulding. The incorporation of the 3D printing has generally been found to increase the accuracy and quality of the castings; it has also lowered the lead time and cost of production. One of our foundries has in-house 3D printing facilities used basically for the production of patterns for sand castings, oddly, as recorded, in this foundry, the conventional method appears to perform much better than the 3D printing. This paper looks at the sand-casting practices in Nigeria and concluded that Nigerian sand casting foundries generally have to change from the low tech sand casting practices they are currently engaged in to high tech sand casting practice in order to fully benefit from additive manufacturing
Foundry practice have existed in Nigeria for centuries. However, for the development of the practice, know-how and skills must be developed. Personnel must be trained at all levels. In this study, the practices in foundries of research and academic institutions involved in foundry within Lagos state were investigated. Investigations were carried out by on-site study of the foundries and also by means of questionnaires investigating various aspects of foundry practice. From responses obtained, it was shown that the capacity of foundries to produce technically sound castings is very low. Simple steps capable of increasing the quality and reproducibility of the castings were suggested. It was concluded that students’ learning and local foundry practice can be enhanced by upgrading foundries in research and educational institutions to current global best practices.
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