Both scissor lifts and aerial lifts are heavy machinery used to elevate cargo or man to a high place where cargo are unloaded and man implements some aerial tasks. These two machines do have their own advantages and disadvantages depending on what work they are used for. In order to best utilize them, we should first deeply know their basic structure and function, and then estimate what jobs we will need them to do. This article aims to help you make some judges regarding the structure and function of scissor lifts and aerial lifts.
- Scissor Lifts
Scissor lift is a kind of elevated platform which can only move vertically. It mainly consist of 5 components – platform, scissor legs, hydraulic cylinders, motor and track. In addition to these devices, there are also some other accessories and optical configurations when dealing with different work nature. And scissor lifts can be further divided into mobile scissor lifts and stationary scissor lifts to meet various needs.
The major advantage of scissor lifts is that smaller space will be taken up if working with them, for the platform only travels up and down vertically. However their disadvantage lies in that they are not suitable for elevating to very high places, because the higher they lift, the more shaky the platform will be. Thus if you have no requirements for the lifting height, you can opt for scissor lifts.
- Aerial Lifts
Aerial lifts are mobile elevating platforms applied to provide temporary access for people or equipment. Usually, some aerial lifts can be pulled to some workplaces and some other types have driver’s cabs in which man can drive to reach to work sites. The major difference in structure between aerial lifts and scissor lifts is that aerial lifts have very long and extensible arms powered by hydraulic cylinders.
The main advantage of this type obviously is that the long arms can extend to very high places with 360° rotation. So their work range is broadened effectively, which enables aerial lifts to work across the barriers in a flexible way. Such big work range requires the operator to pay much more attention to the safe operation.
Here you may acquire some hints on which lift you want to choose. After getting familiar with these two types of lifts, you then should make sure you work nature and needs to select a more appropriate lift.
