×
INTELLIGENT WORK FORUMS
FOR ENGINEERING PROFESSIONALS

Log In

Come Join Us!

Are you an
Engineering professional?
Join Eng-Tips Forums!
  • Talk With Other Members
  • Be Notified Of Responses
    To Your Posts
  • Keyword Search
  • One-Click Access To Your
    Favorite Forums
  • Automated Signatures
    On Your Posts
  • Best Of All, It's Free!
  • Students Click Here

*Eng-Tips's functionality depends on members receiving e-mail. By joining you are opting in to receive e-mail.

Posting Guidelines

Promoting, selling, recruiting, coursework and thesis posting is forbidden.

Students Click Here

Jobs

AutoTurn alternative?
2

AutoTurn alternative?

AutoTurn alternative?

(OP)
An engineer at my company learned to use AutoTurn at a previous place, for designing and determining turning radii for vehicles (fire trucks, 18-wheelers, etc.) to access any given project site.  We inquired as to the price of the AutoTurn program, and for the frequency with which we would use it, found it on the expensive side.  Does anyone out there know of a similar but less expensive program that might accommodate our needs?

If we were in the turning-radius design business, using the program all day, every day, AutoTurn would likely be economically sensible to acquire, but we only need it once a week, at most.

RE: AutoTurn alternative?

I can't find the thread, but someone here once suggested http://www.hawsedc.com/gnu/turn.php. I haven't had a chance to try it yet.

     "...students of traffic are beginning to realize the false economy of mechanically controlled traffic, and hand work by trained officers will again prevail." - Wm. Phelps Eno, ca. 1928

"I'm searching for the questions, so my answers will make sense." - Stephen Brust

RE: AutoTurn alternative?

(OP)
Thanks, we'll look into this site and see if it suits our needs.

RE: AutoTurn alternative?

I don't have a need for doing turns often and when I do, I just use Autocad... if you have an address, I can drop you a template.

Dik

RE: AutoTurn alternative?

I'd love to se how you do it. Unfortunately, the mgt. won't let us post email addresses on these fora.

     "...students of traffic are beginning to realize the false economy of mechanically controlled traffic, and hand work by trained officers will again prevail." - Wm. Phelps Eno, ca. 1928

"I'm searching for the questions, so my answers will make sense." - Stephen Brust

RE: AutoTurn alternative?

That site that ACtrafficengr provided is pretty good:

http://www.hawsedc.com/gnu/turn.php

There's a lisp routine posted on there that is very easy to use in AutoCAD.  In fact, I used it just yesterday to design a turnout, or turnaround area, for an eighteen-wheeler (WB-50 vehicle).  However, I'm just wondering how accurate it is.  I compared it to some existing 90 degree turning templates that we had from AASHTO and it looks pretty close....close enough to be negligible.  However, I was modeling a 180 degree turnaround, and I'm wondering how accurate it is.

Does anyone know how accurate this free Turn lisp routine is?  Why would anyone need Autoturn if this is accurate?

Peace,
Stoddardvilla

RE: AutoTurn alternative?

I looked at it and also found the results very close to AASHTO.  It does use turing theory so it should be accurate enough.  The routine basically calculates a vehicle's wheel and overhang paths as it tracks along a centerline path you input. I don't recall that it included any physical restrictions such as maximum turning angle (minimum angle) so it's up to user to know those in laying out paths.  Plus it didn't handle trailers.

RE: AutoTurn alternative?

CarlB,
You can get that lisp to handle trailers, you just have to run it twice and the second time, you use the line generated from the first run as your starting path.  It worked for me and it turned out pretty nice.
Peace,
Stoddardvilla

RE: AutoTurn alternative?

ACtrafficengr,

Thanks for the link.  It looks good, we'll give it a whirl.  Agree with Dwatted Wabbit:  AutoTURN has gotten a tad bit expensive for those of us designers that don't need it on a frequent basis.

Red Flag This Post

Please let us know here why this post is inappropriate. Reasons such as off-topic, duplicates, flames, illegal, vulgar, or students posting their homework.

Red Flag Submitted

Thank you for helping keep Eng-Tips Forums free from inappropriate posts.
The Eng-Tips staff will check this out and take appropriate action.

Reply To This Thread

Posting in the Eng-Tips forums is a member-only feature.

Click Here to join Eng-Tips and talk with other members!


Resources