Hinged Slide Tracks
Do you need a hinged track?
In order for the seat to get low enough for the user to sit on it is necessary for the track to extend beyond the staircase to the hall floor. Some houses will have a doorway close to the bottom of the stairs and the track may intrude across this. In these circumstances a hinged track should be fi tted. This means that the track can be folded away from the doorway giving clear access.
Manual Hinge
The Simplicity, Simplicity+ and 1000 are available with a manual hinged track. This means you will need to raise and lower the track manually. The gas strut assisted hinge is designed to make manual operation as easy as possible.
Manual hinged can be lifted when the stairlift is not in use.
Powered Hinge
Powered Hinges are operated at the touch of a button from upstairs or down to move the track away from doorways.
The Minivator 1000 and the Minivator 2000 are both available with an automatic hinged track. When operating the stairlift from the toggle, the hinge will lift/lower automatically.
When the stairlift is not in use the hinge is folded by holding a button on the remote control which means you do not need to move the track yourself. When the button is pressed your stairlift moves up the track and parks, the hinge section then moves automatically leaving the doorway clear.
Important: Hinge tracks should always be raised when users go to bed, particularly if they are enabling access to the front door of a property or creating an obstacle for other users of the household.
The Remarkable Slide Track!
The Slide Track is a ground breaking solution, for use with a Simplicity or Simplicity+ straight stairlift.
This unique solution removes the need for a hinge, instead the track moves up the staircase at the same time as the seat is moving, leaving the doorway at the base of your stairs unobstructed.
Similar to a powered hinge, the Slide Track works automatically when the toggle or remote control is activated.
A Slide Track is slightly shorter than the length of your staircase. When you start to travel up the staircase the track will move with you. The track will reach the top of your stairs before the stairlift, it will stop whilst your stairlift continues on its journey to the top where you can safely dismount.
When you come downstairs the track will travel down with you so you can dismount safely at the bottom.
The Slide Track moves towards or away from the landing as you travel up or down.
The Slide Track is fitted with safety sensors at either end, these will halt the track if it encounters an obstacle during use. Your stairlift will continue to move towards the obstacle if desired where, if safe to do so, you can remove the obstruction and continue your journey.
Alternatively the track and stairlift can be moved away from the obstruction. The Slide Track also offers safety benefi ts over a traditional hinged system by removing any risk of an object becoming caught in the hinge.