Scissor lifts and boom lifts are some of the more common access equipment available for hire across the country. They can both be used for construction and maintenance activities around your property, e.g. painting, electrical, plumbing, building inspection, rendering, construction, etc. In this article, find out how they both compare on a number of different factors pertinent to these activities.
Working height
Access equipment is all about reaching that elevated height that you want in order to carry out the work you need to get done. Both types of equipment provide different working heights but boom lifts provide better elevation. That's because most scissor lifts provide a working height of about 7-10 metres while most boom lifts provide a lift of about 10-20 metres. So if you need to work at heights above 10 metres, you most likely will need a boom lift instead.
Load capacity
Both types of equipment also offer different lift capacities. The lift capacity is important because it determines how many people and how much equipment can be loaded on the machine. Scissor lifts can carry more weight than boom lifts. This is largely because of their limited lift range and their stronger set of hoist arms. This is why scissor lifts can typically lift several people while boom lifts can only lift one person and minimal equipment.
Manoeuvrability
Manoeuvrability is an important factor for lift equipment as well. Under this category, boom lifts fare better than scissor lifts by far. This is because scissor lifts can only lift vertically while their wheels offer horizontal displacement. Knuckle boom lifts are much more flexible. They can move vertically, horizontally, and they can also manoeuvre over and above obstacles, thanks to their knuckle booms. Articulated booms only offer diagonal displacement alone.
Platform space
The platform space in boom lifts is significantly smaller than that on scissor lifts. Boom lifts, as explained earlier, only have the capability to lift one person (or two at max). Scissor lifts, as explained earlier as well, can lift several people. They, therefore, have larger platforms that can accommodate anywhere from 1 to 3 people. Some scissor lifts also have extendable platforms that not only allow more people on them but also allow flexibility in terms of horizontal movement for those on the platform.
So to cap it all, scissor lifts are better for low access vertical applications that require one or several workers while boom lifts are ideal for single-person use where more elevation and a degree of manoeuvrability is needed. In most cases, scissor lifts will typically be used indoors or around the external walls of a property while boom lifts will be used on external walls and other outdoor tasks.
Share14 November 2016
Heavy construction equipment can be quite expensive to replace, so it's important to maintain it properly. That involves doing some regular maintenance according to the correct service schedules as well as making sure that your operators know how to operate the equipment correctly. If you maintain your equipment, this maintenance can end up saving your business a lot of money down the track when you can extend the usable life of the equipment that you rely on. This blog has some tips on how you can easily maintain heavy construction equipment, including how you can train operates to extend lifecycles with sensible machine operation.