uwloo

ME 322Mechanical Design 1

Units
0.50
Faculty
Engineering
Subject
Mechanical Engineering

When it runs

  1. F24
  2. W25
  3. S25
  4. F25
  5. W26
  6. S26
  7. F26
  8. W27
  9. S27

Ran in 5 of the last 7 terms. Winter 2027: scheduled, 2 lecture sections. Spring 2027: schedule not out yet.

Adequacy assessment and synthesis of machine elements with a focus on the design process. Static failure of ductile and brittle materials, fatigue analysis of structures. Topics include the design of welds, bolted connections, springs, and shafts.

Prerequisites

  • Complete all of the following
    • Must have completed the following:
      • ME220 - Mechanics of Deformable Solids 2 (0.50)
      • ME321 - Dynamics of Machines and Mechanical Vibrations (0.50)
    • Students must be in level 3B or higher
    • Enrolled in H-Mechanical Engineering

Antirequisites

None listed.

Leads to

Fall 2026 sections

Enrolment from UW Open Data, which can trail Quest by up to two days. Instructors and rooms: Schedule of Classes.
SectionClassEnrolledMeets
LEC 001451393 / 100MW 13:30–14:50
TUT 101451493 / 100F 14:30–15:20

Winter 2027 sections

Enrolment from UW Open Data, which can trail Quest by up to two days. Instructors and rooms: Schedule of Classes.
SectionClassEnrolledMeets
LEC 00144180 / 100MW 13:30–14:50
LEC 701180893 / 9999Online or by arrangement
TUT 10149930 / 100M 16:30–17:20

Reviewed on UW Flow

83% liked it73% easy86% useful

From 46 ratings and 14 comments on UW Flow. The most helpful comments, quoted as written, without names. Read them all on UW Flow.

  • Basically MODS 3, which makes it a fairly useful course that covers important topics for a mechanical engineer to know like static failure, fatigue failure, shafts, bolts, fasteners, and welding. The project for this course was tedious but easy to get good marks on (60% of your grade). The midterm and final were a lot more difficult, but luckily they were only 20% each. Due to Ghavam's weird grading scheme, there was a chance your project weight would be reduced if you did too poorly on the exams, but I don't think anyone really worried about this.

    Dec 2025 · liked it · 1 found this helpfulOn UW FlowRemove this

  • ok course, covers a decent amount of mech relevant material

    Dec 2025 · liked it · 1 found this helpfulOn UW FlowRemove this

  • A continuation of MODS2 with focus on fatigue and failure methods. Course mainly revolves (haha) around shaft design and fatigue, with smaller topics at the end for welding and fasteners. Lots of formulas so make sure your cheat sheet has all of them. Kamyar pulled 1 problem from the practice problems on the final. Do the practice problems to do well.

    Dec 2024 · liked it · 1 found this helpfulOn UW FlowRemove this

  • A bunch of magic numbers + plug and chug. I wouldn't say it's the most useful because all you're really doing is adjusting static stresses based on certain factors but I guess it's nice to know how dynamic systems modify static systems at a higher level.

    Dec 2024 · liked it · 1 found this helpfulOn UW FlowRemove this

  • This course felt more useful than the previous MODS courses from what was taught regarding the strength/failure of fasteners, bolts and welds. Otherwise it was boring and lecture notes were unclear. The shaft design project was somewhat interesting and tied in multiple concepts taught throughout the term. Exams were short and fair.

    Dec 2023 · didn’t like it · 1 found this helpfulOn UW FlowRemove this

Discussed on r/uwaterloo

13 posts and comments in 10 threads mention ME 322, February 2015 to December 2024. Quoted word for word, newest first; each reply sits under the post and the comment that started its branch. Search r/uwaterloo for newer posts.

Spring 2024

want to do robots but got into software engineering 1 point, 7 comments

u/hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmidk: “I’m in SE 28 with an option in mechatronics! I haven’t taken any option courses yet but you can see all the ones required for the option here: …”

u/hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmidk: “… For example, ME 322 (mechanical design 1), which is an option course you can take, requires ME 219 and ME 220 as prerequisites. So that means in addition to the 10 courses in the option, now you have to take additional classes to even complete those mandatory option courses. …”

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Spring 2022

A GUIDE ON HOW TO PLAN AN OPTION 29 points, 15 comments

u/1000Ditto: “… |E|One of ECE (481\[S\], 488\[W\])| |F|ECE 486\[S\]| |G|ME 321\[W,S\] + ME 220\[F,S\] = ME 322\[F,W\]| |H|One of ECE (356\[F\], 454\[S\], 455\[S\], 457A\[S\], 457B\[W\], 459\[W\], 463\[S\])| |CSE|2 CSE C and 1 (CSE A/C/D)| |NSE|Min 2 from list| &x200B; &x200B; 5. …”

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Winter 2022

Spring 2021

Winter 2020

Spring 2019

mechatronics or computer engineering 8 points, 4 comments

“I’m a first year computer engineering student and i feel that i’m not going to be satisfied with the courses i’m taking throughout my degree. …”

u/alt-goldgrun: “The mechanical courses in Mechatronics are: MTE119 (statics), MTE219 ("Mechanics of Deformable Solids", so statics 2), ME321 (kinematics and dynamics of machines), and ME322 (electromechanical machine design). …”

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Spring 2018

MTE 322 vs ME 322 AND Fav Mech courses 3 points, 4 comments

u/anon_student1: “… Which would be better to take, MTE 322 or ME 322 (I have approved overrides for both)? I think ME 322 offers more in terms of mechanical design, but I am hesitant to take it because in SYDE we don't take MODs 2 (only MODs 1). Also, MTE 322 sounds more interesting. …”

u/eagle23_7: “… I took ME 322 and know friends who were in MTE. ME 322 is largely based on failure and fatigue analysis which, in my opinion is quite useful. MTE sounded like more of an overview of several topics than anything in depth and wasn’t as useful. …”

u/anon_student1: “… In comparison to MODs 1, how difficult did you find ME 322? I know that might be comparing apples to oranges, but the professor was concerned with my lack of MODs 2 knowledge before approving the override, hence my hesitation to taking it over MTE 322. …”

u/anon_student1: “… Your response was super helpful, I think I will take ME 322 instead of MTE 322 :)”

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Fall 2017

Any way to disable UWCourseLinker from posting? 16 points, 26 comments

“posting a reply to my comment I find the bot annoying.”

u/Jackhofmann: “PSYCH 483 PSYCH 484 PSYCH 485 PSYCH 486 PSYCH 490R PSYCH 499A PSYCH 499B PSYCH 499C PSYCH 621 PSYCH 630 PSYCH 677A PSYCH 704A PSYCH 704B PSYCH 707 PSYCH 710 PSYCH 714 PSYCH 717 PSYCH 720A PSYCH 721A …”

u/Jackhofmann: “… 200B ME 201 ME 202 ME 203 ME 212 ME 219 ME 220 ME 230 ME 235 ME 250 ME 262 ME 269 ME 300B ME 322 ME 351 ME 353 ME 360 ME 362 ME 380 ME 400A ME 401 ME 423 ME 435 ME 436 ME 456 ME 459 ME 481 ME 482 ME 548 ME 559 ME 561 ME 566 ME 599 ME 620 ME 627 ME 632 ME 651 ME 659 ME 662 ME 673 …”

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Spring 2015

Any mech eng doing/done the tron option? 1 point, 6 comments

“I just wanna know if there are any mech eng that are doing/done the tron option. I wanna know what courses you took to complete the option (ECE or MTE courses?) and if doing the option itself was …”

u/annihilatron: “… - ME322 - Core - Machines 1, basically. Fun course. - ECE484 - must manually select - one of the hardest courses I took in my latter years. You'll be doing heavy mathematics involving laplace, fourier, nyquist, working a lot in the frequency domain, both discrete and analog. …”

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Winter 2015

Engineering hell term? 2 points, 31 comments

“I know that each major has their own hell term, for example Tron's 2b or not 2b.. I was curious about chem eng and enviro eng Thanks!”

u/supersymmetry: “Mech Eng is 3A and 3B - Thermo 2 - Heat Transfer - Machine Design 1 & 2 - Fluids 1 & 2 - Control Systems - PDEs Yay for next semester!”

u/yourmomismyotherride: “… Do you mean Kinematics & Dynamics of Machines (ME 321) and Mech Design 1 (ME 322) The only course that are hard in those semesters are fluids and controls. Realistically, those courses aren't even hard if you get a good prof. …”

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Check it elsewhere for Fall 2026

Calendar versions

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