3D Printing Community in Egypt

​The sand casting process uses a mold made by pressing a pattern into a sand mixture. The pattern leaves a cavity into which molten metal is poured. This process works well for low–volume production. With automated equipment, it can be efficient for high–volume production. Three common types of sand casting patterns are:

• Loose patterns, which simply replicate the cast piece; patterns are not connected to other patterns or mounted on a plate.
• Cope and drag patterns, or split patterns, are like loose patterns with a gating system added and a split along the parting line.
• Matchplates are similar to cope and drag patterns except the cope and drag sides are combined into a single piece.

Producing sand molds and cast metal parts is relatively straightforward and suitable for automated methods that can reduce cycle time and labor. However, fabricating the patterns in Egypt is often difficult, time-consuming and expensive. The most common approach in Egypt is to sculpture the patterns. The biggest problems with this approach are the high cost and lengthy lead time. You have to wait for workers to finish your pattern. The potential for problems, such as incorrect shrink compensation and design flaws, means the initial pattern often must be redone, which adds to the expense and lead time. Now you can make your pattern in a matter of hours using 3D printing technology in Egypt.

Tangible scale models are necessary to many architectural projects, as a complement to computer simulations.
3D printing enables architects and designers to create low-cost 3D architectural models with a high level of precision.
There are two main applications of 3D printing for architecture: 3D printers to create low-cost architectural models used as study models during the creation process, and 3D printers to build realistic and detailed architectural models, often used to promote a project by showcasing the final result in 3D, in a visually striking way.

These low-cost 3D models are used in the design phases to test different architectural concepts. They usually require a high print speed for quick changes, a decent print resolution and a large build volume for urban planning models.
The Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) technology is well adapted for 3D printing basic architectural models.

​The main advantage of 3D printing for this type of architectural models is the productivity gain.
3D printing saves time in the early design and creation phases by reducing the lead-time for architectural model production and allowing quick tests of concepts and iterations.
While it can take several days to build an architectural model manually using wood or foam, 3D printing can deliver results in just hours. A 3D printer can operate overnight for the larger models, which take longer to print.

3D printing allows to easily test many concepts early in the project, and quickly identify potential structure issues, which would be harder to spot on computer simulations.
To assess volumes and general structure of the building, they need to be 3D printed using a single plastic material and a small number of colors, thus keeping the production costs to a minimum.
The 3D printer manufacturer Stratasys claims that modeling costs can be reduced up to 75% by using 3D printing.

The terms Rapid Prototyping and 3d printing are often used along each other. And they have similaritys. For example, both rapid prototyping (RP) and 3D printing technologies build models layer by layer from STL data. But there are still some differences. Etba3ly 3D offers cost-effective prototyping solutions in Egypt (Cairo, Alexandria, Giza, Port Said, Suez, Gharbia, Luxor,  Asyut, Dakahlia, Gharbia, Tanta).

From 3Dprinting.com 

3D printers some times make smaller parts.
A lot of 3D printers in Egypt are limited to making parts that will fit roughly in a cube 20 cm on a side. On the other hand, rapid prototyping machines provide a build chamber at least 60cm  on a side, and some have build chambers approaching 1 m and much larger. Being smaller on the outside means there’s less room to build parts inside of course. A smaller build envelope also means that it’s not possible to make as many parts at the same time, it is not cost effective. That’s lower throughput efficiency than an RP machine, but not usually a concern for the applications 3D printers are intended for. 

3D Printing costs way less
The cost difference per part between 3D printing and rapid prototyping systems can be significant in Egypt. Including material, machine depreciation, system maintenance and labor, a part built using rapid prototyping technology in the middle east can cost nearly twice as much compared to 3D printing. Here at Etba3ly 3D we offer cost effective prototyping solutions through 3D Printing technology in Egypt and all the arab world.


3D printers are cheaper and easier to maintain and feed.
You can expect to spend several hundreds to a few thousand per year to maintain a 3D printer and keep it fed with materials, but it costs several tens of thousands of dollars each year to maintain a rapid prototyping system in Egypt. In some cases you will not be able to get the needed parts. Simply replacing a laser in a stereolithography machine can cost 400,000 EGP, and filling a big vat with photopolymer can easily cost more than 1,000,000 EGP.

Less Material choices for 3D Printers in most cases.
Although the list of materials in 3D printing is growing each month, Most 3D printing services don’t provide the same range of materials as Zortrax. Some classes of materials such as ceramics and metals are not available at all. But it’s possible to make adequately functional parts for many applications, and the materials available are certainly appropriate for concept modeling, a frequent use of 3D printers. At the hobbyist level some thermoplastic extrusion machines are actually capable of using a wide range of plastics and material costs are a lot lower.

3D Printers are less complex, and easier to use
Usually 3d printers require much less or even no training at all in contrast to rapid prototyping machines. It’s possible to be making parts pretty much right out of the box with some professional-level technologies. And the simplicity comes at the price of flexibility. Unlike Rapid Prototyping machines in Egypt, you may not be able to adjust or select many build parameters, or change them on the fly. Also, be forewarned that at the low-cost hobbyist level the equipment is not very “Plug & Play” yet. Some of what you save by buying one of these very low cost machines is likely to be offset by the extra time required to get the equipment running reliably and learning to use it.