08.02.2008

New Aichi Booms

Aichi, Japan’s leading aerial lift producer unveiled its new booms and scissor lifts yesterday at its European base in Holland. The two new booms, the 40ft SP12C and the 46ft SP14CJ – the latter have a jib, the former not- are in production and the first of the company’s new Global boom lifts.
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The SP12 is almost a metre shorter than most rivals

The two booms are in effect the same base product, the 12 being a simple straight boom while the 14 is fitting with a 130 degree articulating jib. Vertikal.Net had a chance to evaluate the two machines and put them through their paces.
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The SP14CJ adds includes a 130 degree jib

The main difference between these new booms and the principal competitors is that they feature three section telescopic booms compared to the normal two sections and incorporate an internal power track. The advantage is a short overall stowed length – 6.86 for the 12 and 7.56 metres for the 14 with its jib in the work position. This over is half a metre shorter than the nearest competitor.
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The boom is a two-plate construction with internal power-track and built-in wiper blades

The down side of the three section boom is a higher gross weight, these are the heaviest machines on the market at 7.015 and 8,200 kgs respectively compared to the usual five to six tonnes. It is also likely to have an impact on the cost of course.

The next feature that jumps out is the lifts low overall stowed height at two metres for the base machine, it is almost half a metre lower than many competitors – 200mm lower than the nearest rival – Haulotte. The 14 is higher due to the boom stowing at an angle to accommodate the jib.

The detail on these new machines is fantastic, the covers are more attractively styled than older Aichi booms but are still made from heavy duty steel making them easy to repair and rugged. Start the engine and these machines differentiate themselves once more, being the quietest on the market. Power is provided by a Yanmar 4TNV88 diesel engine.
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The control box is first class

The upper controls will delight safety specialists concerned about incidents where operators are pinned against the controls. The dead-man control is a traditional foot pedal, and there is a separate short-throw joystick for each function, all of which are protected by a new heavy duty hand rest which not only makes it easier to operate the machine smoothly over rough ground, but also provides a further protection against inadvertent actuation. On top of that the entire box has a flip-top steel cover.
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The control box has a full steel cover

Outreach on both machines is another clear differentiator, with 10.9 metres to the basket edge on the 40ft and 12.7 metres on the 46ft over a metre better than some competitors and 400mm better than the nearest rival. Lift capacity is 250kgs for the 6ft basket and 225kgs for the 8ft.

The platform has large diameter tubular rails, a walk in gate and steel plate with punched drainage holes. Platform rotation is a full 180 degrees each side.
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The new booms perform very well on poor ground

In the sand pit at the test site the Aichi machines performed exceptionally well with most power being diverted to the wheel with the best traction when any start to spin. Ground clearance is mid range at 330mm while the turning circle appeared fairly average.
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Ground clearance is 330mm while axle oscilation is 100mm

As usual for Aichi standard equipment includes boom wiper seals and bellows on exposed cylinders. The engine swings out for easy maintenance access to all components is good and the internal boom power track and telescope system are housed in a ‘cartridge’ which is removed out of the back of the base section. This apparently allows for easy maintenance and if so desired the option of having a service exchange cartridge ready to simply swap over minimising downtime.
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The Yanmar engine swings out for full access

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Access to other components is also good

Overall these are two more first class products that will without doubt be highly popular, at least in Aichi’s traditional markets, in fact the first 200 units have already been sold in Holland to Doornbos Verhuur who has also ordered 200 of each of then new scissor lifts.
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Frank and Dennis Doornbos of Doornbos Verhuur which as bought the first 200 units.

However if they are to sell in volume in the USA and other markets in Europe such as the UK and France, they will need to be priced a little more competitively than is typical for Aichi.
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The Compact SP12C