Which Type Of Aerial Lift Will Best Suit Your Business?

When you need to move heavy loads then you may have been contemplating the purchase of a chain and some lifting gear to help you get the job done. While chains can be useful for lifting objects there are good reasons that you might want to reconsider and think about buying wire rope instead.

Chains and wire ropes: What's the difference?

Chains are built from a series of metal links which are connected using hooks. By contrast, a wire rope takes multiple strands of steel wire and wraps them around a central core. The result is a strong cable whose construction resembles a helix and which can be used in the same way as a chain. In many cases, a wire rope and a chain would be used in the same way but there are circumstances that it makes sense to choose a wire rope instead of a chain. Here are three times that a wire rope would be the better choice.

1. Is your load especially heavy?

While both chains and wire ropes can move heavy loads there are clear limits on what you can move with each system. In most cases, the wire rope will have a higher lifting capacity. In some situations, a wire rope will be able to move around three times as much as a chain hoist making wire rope the better solution when the load you want to move is beyond the capabilities of your chain hoist.

2. Do you need to improve safety?

Have you heard the saying, "a chain is only as strong as its weakest link"? When you use a chain you are relying on every link in the chain to hold the weight. If one link fails then the entire chain fails and whatever you are lifting will come crashing to the ground. If you use wire rope instead of a chain then the weight of the load will be spread across each of the strands in the rope. If one strand of the rope should happen to fail then you can rely on the remaining strands to continue to hold the load until it can reach a place of safety.

3. Do you need to offer support?

Moving loads is not the only use for wire rope. Often you can find wire ropes used as internal machine cabling or provide support on construction projects, where they are far better suited to the role than a chain would be.