Engineering Design Meets Additive Manufacturing at the University of Bristol

Developing the next generation of engineers requires more than theoretical learning alone. Exposure to real engineering challenges and modern manufacturing technologies helps to bridge the gap between academic design and applied knowledge in industry.

To support this, engineers from DEEP Manufacturing recently joined students at the University of Bristol as part of their Principles of Mechanical Engineering module, introducing the class to Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM) and supporting a competition focused on mechanical design and load transfer.

Dr Afif Batal, Materials Process and Development Engineer at DEEP Manufacturing, alongside Associate Engineers Enny Grimwood and Harry Morris, Graduate Additive Manufacturing Engineer Maksym Lacki, and Project Engineer Sacha Hussey, presented the fundamentals of large-scale additive manufacturing and explained how WAAM is used to produce industrial metal components.

Students were then tasked with designing mechanical systems capable of lifting and transferring weighted metal components across a table. Teams had the freedom to optimise their designs for different objectives, such as speed, stability or compactness, reflecting the real-world trade-offs engineers must consider when developing mechanical systems.

To introduce an industrial element to the challenge, DEEP Manufacturing produced a series of WAAM-printed weights specifically for the competition. The components ranged from 2.4 kg to 9.8 kg, each with different geometries that highlighted the design freedom enabled by additive manufacturing.

Across the two competition days, 18 teams were formally judged, with many more students participating as part of their coursework.

Several mechanisms demonstrated impressive lifting capability, with some designs able to raise loads exceeding 10–15 kg. However, lifting strength alone was not enough to secure victory. The designs were also evaluated on originality, structural integrity and the ability to successfully transfer loads across the table.

One winning system stood out for its compact crane design, which combined speed, stability and an efficient mechanical layout to move the weight significantly faster than competing solutions.

A second winning design demonstrated a very different engineering approach. Named “Trolly McQueen”, the bridge system relied on gravity and carefully balanced counterweights rather than motors to perform the lifting action. The team refined the counterweight configuration through multiple iterations to achieve the correct balance, creating a simple but highly effective mechanism that impressed the judging engineers.

Events such as this help demonstrate how additive manufacturing technologies are already influencing engineering education and leading towards a greater number of WAAM-literate graduates.

As additive manufacturing continues to evolve, introducing students to technologies such as WAAM early in their careers helps to prepare future engineers to work with the tools and production methods shaping modern industry.