I was a Tower crane operator for 25 years. I figured that I climbed up and down over 300 miles in that time. During those 25 years we had 3 different times during jacking that we almost lost it, twice because of unexpected wind gusts and once because the erector in charge used the wrong counter balance. 4 other times there was some screw ups that could have resulted in a major accident but was caught just in time. I was also hit by lightning 9 times in the crane, don't let anyone tell you different you can get shocked if the door and windows are open when it hits and it sure hurts.
@@joeyknight8272 Lightning goes up and down, while in the crane we become part of the positive charge, when the lightning starts leaders called steps form, many of them reach out from the ground from different places but in that fraction of a second only one makes a connection. In the crane with the door and windows open like just before the storm hits you are sitting there with hands on the controls, we become charged just like the rest of the crane but don't know it, not much but enough to make it hurt and I still get alot of cramps in my legs, but then again I was on a riding lawn mower and a bolt came from a cloud over 1 mile away, hit the tree I was under, came down the tree, killed a morning dove , arched to the mower, killed it and all electric wiring and knocked me a couple of feet away. My wife still stays away from me during storms
Same here - always thought it looked nearly supernatural, but the engineering logistics are just as hard to believe, and yes always dangerous. Many cranes have been brought down catastrophically by unexpected wind gusts that shift the load centre.
I know a friend who has worked as a crane operator. This isn't how it is actually done. The video misses a lot and you should not use this if you want to build a crane.
I should also tell everyone that most of the operators customize the cabins, Most a small refrigerator somewhere, a microwave or toaster oven, and a cb radio that is also considered a export radio that has a little added power and a whole bunch of channels and side channels that regular cb radios don't have. About these radios, we found that all of us could stay on some obscure channel that the employers would never be able to find and we could talk shit all daylong without ever being caught but the biggest safety thing we found was if we had 2 or 3 cranes on the same job and then another 6 or so cranes in town all the other cranes could be talking but if we saw something on our job dealing with safety with one of our cranes, we could grab the mike and over talk all the other cranes because we were so close and thereby avoid a collision or anything of that nature instead of grabbing the job site radio, switching channels as fast as you could to inform others of impending danger. These side band radios also had the added bonus that we could go to certain channels and do some skip talking. One thursday afternoon I was the last crane in town in Charlotte, NC working late and these 2 truck drivers I could hear were talking about where they were going out that night being friday and all and I'm like WTF and shot back at them that it was Thursday, and was promply told I didn't know anything, these guys were just outside Brisbane, Australia where it was Friday. We talked for 10 minutes before I lost the signal. I was also able to talk to my operator friends in Charlotte, NC while I was in Las Vegas a number of times and probably almost all of the countrys in Europe at 1 time or another, I went by the handle of BIRD1432. The height of the cranes made this possible.
@@KandiKlover So you are telling me, that while working on a crane in Charlotte, you suddenly connected to two random truckers from Brisbane, discussing how to spend their friday? Holy crap that's so cool
@@KandiKlover That's not fantasy. The height of a tower crane, combined with the very powerful reciever of a top dollar CB radio could let you talk to people around the world away on a clear day. My grandfather's relatively cheap CB radio could pick up for 200 miles with only a 2 foot tall antenna from inside the house. The crane itself could have probably acted as a signal amplifier, being made of steel tubing and all.
Cranes seem to appear overnight and I've always wondered how they were assembled. I even watched an hour-long documentary on cranes and they never mentioned how they were assembled or raised. Thanks for this!
I've ironworked for a few years specializing in buck hoist work. The first conversation on the radio you know if the operator is an ace or a beginner. Had alot of badass operators who don't need a ton of hand signals or talk on the radio. Much respect to the good ones. Alot of life's are in their hands.
East just go to jerry (there should we one in every town and city) if you get him a pack of smokes he’ll give you the location the of the crane next you’ll find someone named “Barry” pay him a $100000 fee (with the infinite money glitch that shouldn’t be too hard) and book you got yourself a crane
*I don't need sleep, I need answers* Seriously though, I've been thinking about this for months, I thought that you'd need a crane bigger than the tower crane, which just doesn't make much sense and I knew it. But this Climbing thing finally lays the question to rest.
Yeah, this thing has been haunted me for years. Finally I got the answer. 😂 Joke aside, I've been binge watching the crane video for almost an hour. God knows why, but it's surprisingly interesting. 😅
@@aliNET86 Lol no need to ask God, Of Course it's freaking interesting! theses things a presion made by steel and develop with thousand of years of knowledge, operated by highly trained professionals with their life resting in the fate of physics and not making any errors. And most just take it for granted, yet without these tools and the people oprateing them, the moden world ba dirtscrapers insted of skyscrapers.
Thank you so much for shedding light on these things in contracting that aren’t common knowledge to people outside the industry. There is so much that goes into construction that people from the outside just don’t know about or have any appreciation of.
Fifty years ago I worked on a project of multiple apartment buildings as a laborer. During preparing the lattice for the crane pad I asked what happens to it when the construction is finished. I was told it's all left inside the building to become part of the elevator shaft structure. That made sense to me at the time. I don't know if that is still the practice in some circumstances.
This is literally what I do for living. I operate, repair and climb tower cranes. I have to say that you did an excellent job explaining the process. If I was going to be pedantic, I'd point out that some of your terminology is slightly off, but on the whole it's a very well done video that perfectly explains my work to people that have never seen it in action. Great Job!!
Looks like a terrifying job mate , i`m not good with heights so i would be giving the cranes a wide , wide berth :) , how did you get started doing this job ?
For a bit of history, self climbing tower cranes were invented by the Favelle brothers in Prahran, a suburb of Melbourne, Australia in about 1963. Their brand name was Favco. Four of the luffing cranes were used in the construction of the World Trade Towers. They won an Australian Export Award for that. Being diesel powered and a single cable, they had faster lift times than other cranes at the time.
Until 1949, cranes used in construction could lift vertically but had no horizontal movement, and materials were manually carried after being dropped. With Hans Liebherr’s innovation, the tower crane could not only swing materials horizontally, but also be transported in parts and fully assemble itself at the construction site. His design, the TK-10, was a machine that had the slewing unit on the bottom, allowing the entire crane to rotate, with a horizontal jib on top. It was presented at the Frankfurt Trade Fair in 1949, but new designs came to the market almost immediately after its unveiling.
@@lliambunter That is interesting. I have been told that the reason that the Favelle brothers designed and built their own crane was that they had been trying to purchase a crane from Germany, but the Australian Federal Customs department at the time was making it very difficult for them. This would come as no surprise. Maybe they were trying to import a Liebherr crane? There are many Liebherrs here (especially mobile and tracked) and I have watched a number being set up or dis-mantled. In fact at the Waterloo Metro Station (in Sydney, Australia) construction site one block from here, there is a Liebherr tracked mobile. I cannot get close enough to work out the model number. I am a great fan of Liebherr!
@@peterblackmore7560 I was a fan of the french crane maker Potain sold in shithole UK as Record tower cranes , one of the best I've ever operated sadly they were taken over by Manitowic I actually operated the first record to come into the country which was in the yard of the hire company , a spin off of Record really great machine and in those days there wasn't any cameras to show how far out what load you had on etc it was all done by judgement which is only right you cant be looking at dials and screens when you're operating a crane record at the time were the only ones which you could double the overload during testing so I was told
Hi Pete don't know if you're interested in it or not but this is a model I made of the crane I was operating in Manchester for the new BBC studios 1972( since demolished ) ua-cam.com/video/FySbJK4SP68/v-deo.html It's a Record 765 to be exact really lovely crane to operate first one in the country with electronic slewing brake, 150 foot jib lifted 2 ton at the furthest radius and 6 ton max
This is probably the 4th video I watch about how cranes are build, but it's definitely the best, with math/physics information. Thanks for taking the time to sharing it.
There's a massive tower complex being constructed across the street from me and It really grew my interest in these cranes. I watched the crane jacks work over the weekend and was amazed by how delicate of a process it can be.I also got to the see the bottom up cranes be built and that really confused the heck out of me. The crane was inside the structure of the building. I thought the crane was attached to the very bottom level, but as the crane went high and higher I noticed that the crane structure didn't exist on the lower floors but was simply attached to the structure of the building. That crane is now maybe attached to the top 10 floors of a 60 floor building. Confused the hell out of me until i watched this video and figured out the whole scenario. There was also a point when I was gone for a week and they moved one of the cranes to the opposite side of the building and changed it from a hammerhead crane to the luffing jib crane. Not sure why exactly, might have been a design screw up.
You didn't mention how the "holes" left from internal tower cranes are often employed as usable spaces within the building. The voids are perfect for elevators, ventilation, etc.
One building close to where I live they filled in the holes with concrete. They had rebar sticking out that they used to build the rest of the floors. It was interesting.
@@ptmy8590 that is cool, so they used it as "core/s" for reinforcement and such. Did they also build the next floor on the current floor and raise it up?
They just slab it over for sq footage, you cant make core walls out of crane space. Core walls (in my state) have to be built first, also have yo be able to stand 3 stories tall on their own
@@jonathanorlando1294 after the base of the crane is raised up a couple of floors they start to form the holes up from the ground up but the whole area around the crane foot print so to speak is shored up all the way from the ground to the supporting floor that the crane is on. What is really funny to watch is how fast the bosses leave the floor that the hydraulic jacks are on as they start to take the weight because as they do the shoring all around that area is now lose, the jacking crew are all standing near a wall or column when the shoring starts to fall everywhere and then needs to be reset
We had the same crew build and dismantle a tower crane. It’s amazing to see in person. These guys traveled just building the cranes . We were told that something happened a week or so after we saw, took lunch with them. Four/Five of them were killed when the tower collapsed somehow! Very dangerous job, and l admire the men who do it !
Balance is King - that tall spindly structure with a huge weight on top, will topple catastrophically if the balance is shifted from even a strong gust of wind during lifting or lowering.
I just was watching the CN Tower video of yours and wanted to know how they build themselves taller. What are the odds I clicked on your video of the explanation. Subscribed.
I have personally watched things go bad with tower cranes. After doing our final jump ( the mast was in the center of the building ) We were hanging iron from one end of the building working towards the other. As we got closer to the mast, the trolley did not weight enough and this left a belly in the load cable. As he swung over the manlift, the cable caught the mast of the manlift and tore about 20 feet off. Job was shut down for a week while they figured out what went wrong and repaired the manlift. We had to add on a headache ball for extra weight to relieve to belly in the load cable.
Awesome. I worked for many years as a Union sheet metal worker on hi-rise buildings and these cranes are invaluable. Also invaluable are "super-decks" where we push out of an opening on any given floor a platform for the crane to deliver our product to us on any floor. Lots going on in a high rise building, and sometimes for years.
My Dad worked in heavy construction for most of his life. When I was 7 or 8, he explained "climbing the crane" to me. I was so amazed that I told all my friends at school about it. :-)
One thing about the internal cranes that float in a building, I have had 2 like that. they use large oak wedges to keep them centered in the hole, you don't want the metal tower to be banging on the concrete slabs, and during the course of the day some of the wedges fall out the crane will usually fall backward towards the counter weights and slam up against the slab, this will also cause some very loud cussing cursing and wild movements in the crane cab, take my word for that
8:49 I have a ridiculous fear of heights, which is odd because I have no fear of flying, just something about a looking down without windows and walls enclosed around sends chills down my spine.
Fascinating to learn how this amazing engineering feat works. Equally informative is the comment thread, with added insight from crane operators, engineers and construction crew.
So, I worked at construction sites and watched this happening (though I took no part in it directly) a d not only is it explained perfectly and animated wonderfully, just watching this video made me feel anxious again :'D It's truly somewhat nervewracking to watch it happen, there is something that feels just so weird about it for me.
Every crane gets weight tested after it gets put up for maxim load, but we only hold the load up just barely off the ground, both for max load and moment load,(how far out can you go) and set the limit switches so you can never go past those points or the crane shuts down
Currently pursuing a career in construction engineering and this is pretty neat. These machines have always fascinated me since I was a kid and they still do. My favorite models are the EC-H by Liebherr and the SK-575 by Peiner.
I was uplifted by the info in this video and the fact you used footage of an external crane to build the new Northwestern Mutual building in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (my home town)! 6:52 - 6:57 🏗 👍
This kind of thing is fascinating. Makes you wonder the particular people who mastermind the whole operation. Some people have such specific/rarely-needed jobs but are of utmost importance.
Always wondered about that and the cranes that are placed in the middle of the building are even more astonishing when you don't know how it's done. Would love to see it live
Man, that is a brilliant idea. I had seen these cranes getting taller and taller as the building gets taller and taller and had often wondered how it it getting taller without disassembling it. Now I know. Thank you sir for revealing the truth. This is awesome.
I was looking at a crane the other day trying to work it out..... Did my head in. So glad you explained it well. So the arm is built flat on the ground and raised.. makes sense now. Thanks for the vid
Haha I'm a big fan of Peter's work and he definitely inspired the intro. It's a lot of fun to make these short cinematic sequences and I love including them in my videos!
I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! I first wondered about this close to 30 years ago. Everyone I asked did not know the answer. I did not know the correct terminology - tower crane, and today, by pure chance. I finally have the asnwer!
I was an ironworker in Boston and there is a pecking order with all the trades in large scale steel-reinforced concrete building (of course ironworkers exist at the top to ironworkers). Was like, laborers at the bottom, internal finishers and plumbers up from there, all the way to the ironworkers, riggers and fitters. But all the posturing and BS the ironworker foremen had stopped when the crane's showed up. Those operators are THE most respected folks on any job outside the owner and architects.
@@D-B-Cooper Don't limit our potential. Maybe archeologists and other "experts" cannot build a pyramid but give the job to engineers, craftsmen and laborers, and it will be done. If you provide the funding I'll see to it that you have a pyramid at least the same size as the largest one in Egypt. Hit me up anytime when you're ready.
Well we usually put them up and take down on weekends just so we can close the roads and less people around. The erecting crane does take up some room and the trucks supporting it and all the parts of the tower crane need to be able to get in and out
No kidding, this vid showed up randomly. Yet, it provided info I have desired but never enough to do a search for it. I'm actually pretty happy to learn this about cranes. Because a few times here and there this topic has come up. Very cool to simply know the processes! :)
For decades I've been meaning to find out how cranes do this, but the thought always happens when youtube has not been at my finger tips.. After watching this, I can declare my life's education is now complete.
The company I work for does this (were in the vid a bunch actually) and this is by far the most technical, and most precarious work any technician has to do
This is exactly what I've been wondering all my time whenever I find cranes at construction sites. I've been in Qatar for almost 15 months now and, as one of the most developed countries in the world, cranes are everywhere busy building skyscrapers and I've wondered how they suddenly get higher on site and how firm they stand in the ground. Thanks for sharing.
Question: In the second method of climbing, what happens to the big long hole in the building once construction is complete? Does it just turn into an elevator shaft or is that hole just considered lost space?
This happened to a job in Panama years ago, it was a linden 130 that was floating in the building, when you jack it up there must always be atleast 2 floors around the crane to wedge it off, well they screwed up and jacked it past that 2nd floor, the crane fell over fowards because the balance weight on the jib and stopped when the jib hit the building, the operator fell about 20 feet out the window and they never saw him again, true story
I live in Chicago and have 3 tower cranes operating around me downtown. I just see them getting higher and higher but always miss the jacking process. Thanks for breaking it down!
Very interesting. I watched two different buildings go up a few years ago. One had the external crane and the other the internal crane. NOW I know how they built both as it certainly stumped me.
Guess it's all about the basics of distributing dead and live loads using parts working in both compression and tension. The principles developed over centuries of sail using mast, spars and the like connected with copious amounts of rigging laid the groundwork for the engineering behind these cranes. Nice to see that heritage reflected in the terms used today.
I have done a few Tower Crane’s in my day. Ironworker out of 118. It can get a bit hairy when you cut everything loose and start “jacking the rig”. Got some great pics from up there!
@@Genius_at_Work Wait for real? how strong are those things? The main thing I always wondered wen seeing cranes is how do the steel rods support that weight, is it related?
@@micaelgarcia1576 first for context, a Hydraulic press is effectively a hydraulic jack just designed to, well, press things together (a basic Hydraulic press can actually use a hydraulic bottle Jack for the press mechanism). As of today, the most powerful press can exert a force of 80,000 Tons, or 72,574,779 Kilograms, so there's your answer
@@cpufreak101 wait what I read that as "80.000 kilos" at first, and thought it was a lot... ok then, yeah, that is a lot more than I was imagining, wayyy more, wow
I mean, balancing the top of a crane on top of a hydraulic jack is pretty sketch no matter how you look at it, they just figured out the least dangerous way of doing it.
With a remote control you can run the crane but you can't feel the crane. I have run a couple from the deck er working floor but there are too many distractions and you can't see everything. I had 1 crane where the cab was located half way out on the jib, I am really glad they did it for only 1 crane all you did was bounce around all day long and was physically draining by days end
Wow! I often wondered how they kept up with the height of the building, thought it was some trickery down at the base, never seen one building itself like this, hauling up sections etc 😯⚠️
I hope you find this video *uplifting* ; )
I've always wanted to know this thank you very much
Also you showed my city Chicago! 😃
3:18 He he. Rod, loads.
Ahhhhhhhhhh
🙄
answer: they jump and place a block below them
They should just enter ''/gamemode creative'' in their command boxes
@@justsogusto4979 they're a visitor not a member
It's a joke mate
Ho oh, it was I who got wooshed?
Or they build slime block machines to do the work for them
I was a Tower crane operator for 25 years. I figured that I climbed up and down over 300 miles in that time. During those 25 years we had 3 different times during jacking that we almost lost it, twice because of unexpected wind gusts and once because the erector in charge used the wrong counter balance. 4 other times there was some screw ups that could have resulted in a major accident but was caught just in time. I was also hit by lightning 9 times in the crane, don't let anyone tell you different you can get shocked if the door and windows are open when it hits and it sure hurts.
Nashville is littered with tower cranes, soooo beautiful!!
Your braver than me doing that job. Respect to you sir and thanks.
Wow how did you not die from lighting
@@joeyknight8272 Lightning goes up and down, while in the crane we become part of the positive charge, when the lightning starts leaders called steps form, many of them reach out from the ground from different places but in that fraction of a second only one makes a connection. In the crane with the door and windows open like just before the storm hits you are sitting there with hands on the controls, we become charged just like the rest of the crane but don't know it, not much but enough to make it hurt and I still get alot of cramps in my legs, but then again I was on a riding lawn mower and a bolt came from a cloud over 1 mile away, hit the tree I was under, came down the tree, killed a morning dove , arched to the mower, killed it and all electric wiring and knocked me a couple of feet away. My wife still stays away from me during storms
@@mtvjackass74 Just drove past there last week, there was more last year
Finally! I see them everywhere yet they make no sense how they get taller everyday here in San Fran. Thank you for the upload!
Even more fun to be the operator. Lol
Dumb guy
@@frisbe9279 dude calmed down.. no need to be rude
TheFartSmeller69420 Just like your Mum! Boom, roasted.
It's not taller than me
I've always wondered how this was done and the process is 10x crazier and more dangerous than I thought
Same here - always thought it looked nearly supernatural, but the engineering logistics are just as hard to believe, and yes always dangerous. Many cranes have been brought down catastrophically by unexpected wind gusts that shift the load centre.
I know a friend who has worked as a crane operator. This isn't how it is actually done. The video misses a lot and you should not use this if you want to build a crane.
Same
@@ERMOONSaladino damn i was gonna build a crane after watching this.
@@VampiresAreRealGuys Yeah the video is just full of misinformation.
I particularly enjoy that the crane to assemble the tower usually has to be assembled by a smaller crane
Reverse russian dolls. The lead engineer builds the first one by hand out of lego :)
It's cranes all the way down.
I used the crane to build the crane
Thanos, is that you?
Death Grips lyrics?
which crane built that crane?
Crane was build by a crane by a crane by a crane by a crane .......the just evolved from a bacteria
Yo dawg I heard you like cranes so I built a crane with a crane so you can lift while you lift.
There’s only two requirements to be a tower crane operator:
1. A few loose screws
2. Balls of steel
AmishHitman73 New York City town crane operators can make 500,000+ a year. You just gotta know where it’s paying to work and go there.
meh some tower crane operators operate remotely from the ground with remote control
and a bunch of training ... lots and lots of training. and balls of freaking titanium alloy
Make alot of money but if you fall or the crane breaks that money won’t matter no more.
@@seressor but you wont need the money anymore, so itd be a win win
I should also tell everyone that most of the operators customize the cabins, Most a small refrigerator somewhere, a microwave or toaster oven, and a cb radio that is also considered a export radio that has a little added power and a whole bunch of channels and side channels that regular cb radios don't have. About these radios, we found that all of us could stay on some obscure channel that the employers would never be able to find and we could talk shit all daylong without ever being caught but the biggest safety thing we found was if we had 2 or 3 cranes on the same job and then another 6 or so cranes in town all the other cranes could be talking but if we saw something on our job dealing with safety with one of our cranes, we could grab the mike and over talk all the other cranes because we were so close and thereby avoid a collision or anything of that nature instead of grabbing the job site radio, switching channels as fast as you could to inform others of impending danger. These side band radios also had the added bonus that we could go to certain channels and do some skip talking. One thursday afternoon I was the last crane in town in Charlotte, NC working late and these 2 truck drivers I could hear were talking about where they were going out that night being friday and all and I'm like WTF and shot back at them that it was Thursday, and was promply told I didn't know anything, these guys were just outside Brisbane, Australia where it was Friday. We talked for 10 minutes before I lost the signal. I was also able to talk to my operator friends in Charlotte, NC while I was in Las Vegas a number of times and probably almost all of the countrys in Europe at 1 time or another, I went by the handle of BIRD1432. The height of the cranes made this possible.
@@KandiKlover So you are telling me, that while working on a crane in Charlotte, you suddenly connected to two random truckers from Brisbane, discussing how to spend their friday? Holy crap that's so cool
@@KandiKlover That's not fantasy. The height of a tower crane, combined with the very powerful reciever of a top dollar CB radio could let you talk to people around the world away on a clear day. My grandfather's relatively cheap CB radio could pick up for 200 miles with only a 2 foot tall antenna from inside the house. The crane itself could have probably acted as a signal amplifier, being made of steel tubing and all.
@@shockwave6213 also the direction we were pointed made a difference.
@@TheHawkeye1432 The direction of the crane's jib?
never stand below a tower crane, and if u see yellow rain, run away quickly
Cranes seem to appear overnight and I've always wondered how they were assembled. I even watched an hour-long documentary on cranes and they never mentioned how they were assembled or raised. Thanks for this!
I've ironworked for a few years specializing in buck hoist work. The first conversation on the radio you know if the operator is an ace or a beginner. Had alot of badass operators who don't need a ton of hand signals or talk on the radio. Much respect to the good ones. Alot of life's are in their hands.
Build item
- - -
Item: Tower Crane
Requires: Tower Crane
East just go to jerry (there should we one in every town and city) if you get him a pack of smokes he’ll give you the location the of the crane next you’ll find someone named “Barry” pay him a $100000 fee (with the infinite money glitch that shouldn’t be too hard) and book you got yourself a crane
I thought they just smash their hammer against the air and the crane instantly grow
@@sdrawkcab_emanresu depends on what version you’re playing
Which came first the Tower Crane or the Tower Crane.
@@rainscratch tower crane
*I don't need sleep, I need answers*
Seriously though, I've been thinking about this for months, I thought that you'd need a crane bigger than the tower crane, which just doesn't make much sense and I knew it. But this Climbing thing finally lays the question to rest.
Yeah, this thing has been haunted me for years. Finally I got the answer. 😂
Joke aside, I've been binge watching the crane video for almost an hour. God knows why, but it's surprisingly interesting. 😅
Nah, i thought about this my entire life.
how anyone can think about something for more than a couple days without googling it is beyond me
@@aliNET86 Lol no need to ask God, Of Course it's freaking interesting! theses things a presion made by steel and develop with thousand of years of knowledge, operated by highly trained professionals with their life resting in the fate of physics and not making any errors.
And most just take it for granted, yet without these tools and the people oprateing them, the moden world ba dirtscrapers insted of skyscrapers.
Same Brother ..we finally got the Answer
Thank you so much for shedding light on these things in contracting that aren’t common knowledge to people outside the industry. There is so much that goes into construction that people from the outside just don’t know about or have any appreciation of.
SDFlick619 some people call farmers stupid dirty fucks loaded with money and then proceed to eat the food a farmer produced them.
@@jonthelamb4549 Yes some people say that
Fifty years ago I worked on a project of multiple apartment buildings as a laborer. During preparing the lattice for the crane pad I asked what happens to it when the construction is finished. I was told it's all left inside the building to become part of the elevator shaft structure. That made sense to me at the time. I don't know if that is still the practice in some circumstances.
don’t worry, all the things that made you wonder in your lifetime will be answered somehow, somewhere on the internet.
If you look .
This is literally what I do for living. I operate, repair and climb tower cranes. I have to say that you did an excellent job explaining the process. If I was going to be pedantic, I'd point out that some of your terminology is slightly off, but on the whole it's a very well done video that perfectly explains my work to people that have never seen it in action.
Great Job!!
What’s the worst mistake you’ve ever had during crane construction?
@@markcrowder1367 sharting.
I'm working on my cco right now for towers
Looks like a terrifying job mate , i`m not good with heights so i would be giving the cranes a wide , wide berth :) , how did you get started doing this job ?
@@asherdie Never heard that word before in my life. Why do I magically know what it means!
For a bit of history, self climbing tower cranes were invented by the Favelle brothers in Prahran, a suburb of Melbourne, Australia in about 1963. Their brand name was Favco. Four of the luffing cranes were used in the construction of the World Trade Towers. They won an Australian Export Award for that. Being diesel powered and a single cable, they had faster lift times than other cranes at the time.
Thanks
Until 1949, cranes used in construction could lift vertically but had no horizontal movement, and materials were manually carried after being dropped. With Hans Liebherr’s innovation, the tower crane could not only swing materials horizontally, but also be transported in parts and fully assemble itself at the construction site. His design, the TK-10, was a machine that had the slewing unit on the bottom, allowing the entire crane to rotate, with a horizontal jib on top. It was presented at the Frankfurt Trade Fair in 1949, but new designs came to the market almost immediately after its unveiling.
@@lliambunter That is interesting. I have been told that the reason that the Favelle brothers designed and built their own crane was that they had been trying to purchase a crane from Germany, but the Australian Federal Customs department at the time was making it very difficult for them. This would come as no surprise.
Maybe they were trying to import a Liebherr crane?
There are many Liebherrs here (especially mobile and tracked) and I have watched a number being set up or dis-mantled. In fact at the Waterloo Metro Station (in Sydney, Australia) construction site one block from here, there is a Liebherr tracked mobile. I cannot get close enough to work out the model number.
I am a great fan of Liebherr!
@@peterblackmore7560 I was a fan of the french crane maker Potain sold in shithole UK as Record tower cranes , one of the best I've ever operated sadly they were taken over by Manitowic I actually operated the first record to come into the country which was in the yard of the hire company , a spin off of Record really great machine and in those days there wasn't any cameras to show how far out what load you had on etc it was all done by judgement which is only right you cant be looking at dials and screens when you're operating a crane record at the time were the only ones which you could double the overload during testing so I was told
Hi Pete don't know if you're interested in it or not but this is a model I made of the crane I was operating in Manchester for the new BBC studios 1972( since demolished ) ua-cam.com/video/FySbJK4SP68/v-deo.html It's a Record 765 to be exact really lovely crane to operate first one in the country with electronic slewing brake, 150 foot jib lifted 2 ton at the furthest radius and 6 ton max
This is probably the 4th video I watch about how cranes are build, but it's definitely the best, with math/physics information. Thanks for taking the time to sharing it.
There's a massive tower complex being constructed across the street from me and It really grew my interest in these cranes. I watched the crane jacks work over the weekend and was amazed by how delicate of a process it can be.I also got to the see the bottom up cranes be built and that really confused the heck out of me. The crane was inside the structure of the building. I thought the crane was attached to the very bottom level, but as the crane went high and higher I noticed that the crane structure didn't exist on the lower floors but was simply attached to the structure of the building. That crane is now maybe attached to the top 10 floors of a 60 floor building. Confused the hell out of me until i watched this video and figured out the whole scenario. There was also a point when I was gone for a week and they moved one of the cranes to the opposite side of the building and changed it from a hammerhead crane to the luffing jib crane. Not sure why exactly, might have been a design screw up.
"which usually requires multiple strokes depending on the cylinder's length" 5:50
.
😩
@George Spindler
🤦♂️
That's what she said
If only my parents marriage was secured by high strength steel bolts.
I feel your pain 😔
😅
Bruh
Stay strong
Dang
You didn't mention how the "holes" left from internal tower cranes are often employed as usable spaces within the building. The voids are perfect for elevators, ventilation, etc.
One building close to where I live they filled in the holes with concrete. They had rebar sticking out that they used to build the rest of the floors. It was interesting.
@@ptmy8590 that is cool, so they used it as "core/s" for reinforcement and such. Did they also build the next floor on the current floor and raise it up?
They just slab it over for sq footage, you cant make core walls out of crane space. Core walls (in my state) have to be built first, also have yo be able to stand 3 stories tall on their own
@@jonathanorlando1294 after the base of the crane is raised up a couple of floors they start to form the holes up from the ground up but the whole area around the crane foot print so to speak is shored up all the way from the ground to the supporting floor that the crane is on. What is really funny to watch is how fast the bosses leave the floor that the hydraulic jacks are on as they start to take the weight because as they do the shoring all around that area is now lose, the jacking crew are all standing near a wall or column when the shoring starts to fall everywhere and then needs to be reset
@@chrishickey5923 neat! I didn't know that.
We had the same crew build and dismantle a tower crane. It’s amazing to see in person. These guys traveled just building the cranes . We were told that something happened a week or so after we saw, took lunch with them. Four/Five of them were killed when the tower collapsed somehow! Very dangerous job, and l admire the men who do it !
Balance is King - that tall spindly structure with a huge weight on top, will topple catastrophically if the balance is shifted from even a strong gust of wind during lifting or lowering.
I just was watching the CN Tower video of yours and wanted to know how they build themselves taller. What are the odds I clicked on your video of the explanation. Subscribed.
Even watching these illustrations gave me anxiety about how badly things can go wrong.
Why not just watch videos of when it actually does go wrong?
It’s deep water horizon all over again
my thoughts exactly
Do you fly?
Things can go wrong anywhere...
I have personally watched things go bad with tower cranes. After doing our final jump ( the mast was in the center of the building ) We were hanging iron from one end of the building working towards the other. As we got closer to the mast, the trolley did not weight enough and this left a belly in the load cable. As he swung over the manlift, the cable caught the mast of the manlift and tore about 20 feet off. Job was shut down for a week while they figured out what went wrong and repaired the manlift. We had to add on a headache ball for extra weight to relieve to belly in the load cable.
It's like 3d printing a 3d printer, then returning the original printer.
Well yes, but also in insane hights while keeping your tongue in you mouth as failure means your death + disaster.
True
ua-cam.com/video/6B_dM87BSFY/v-deo.html
YES
Glad to be a Crane Operator. Love my job ❤ when you see new buildings that you participated in building you just feel wow
Ibrahim Soblaban how does it feel being all the way up that high ?
Ibrahim Soblaban what do they do with the voids left by an internal building erected tower cranes? Elevator shafts?
do you have toilets there ?i wonder
@@baldinib1055 unfortunately not. We are facing hard time doing what we need
@@slimeyoshyt6496 it's feels ok somehow and sometimes it's so boring
Awesome. I worked for many years as a Union sheet metal worker on hi-rise buildings and these cranes are invaluable. Also invaluable are "super-decks" where we push out of an opening on any given floor a platform for the crane to deliver our product to us on any floor. Lots going on in a high rise building, and sometimes for years.
Thanks for the further information Stephen. Always wondered how materials were delivered to floors.
My Dad worked in heavy construction for most of his life. When I was 7 or 8, he explained "climbing the crane" to me. I was so amazed that I told all my friends at school about it. :-)
I knew internal tower cranes were raised on their own, but I always wondered how the process works. Thanks!
One thing about the internal cranes that float in a building, I have had 2 like that. they use large oak wedges to keep them centered in the hole, you don't want the metal tower to be banging on the concrete slabs, and during the course of the day some of the wedges fall out the crane will usually fall backward towards the counter weights and slam up against the slab, this will also cause some very loud cussing cursing and wild movements in the crane cab, take my word for that
@@TheHawkeye1432 I wish I could get a tour in a tower crane lol...
Yes thanks for the clear detailed info... great thanks...😄
My bucket list of, I wonder how they do it: tower cranes✅
he got a list and is _learning_
he is too dangerous!
Let me add some; How dam and underwater tunnel are constructed
hmm yes
the crane is made out of crane
best comment
8:49 I have a ridiculous fear of heights, which is odd because I have no fear of flying, just something about a looking down without windows and walls enclosed around sends chills down my spine.
Same here…even pictures give me vertigo
Fascinating to learn how this amazing engineering feat works. Equally informative is the comment thread, with added insight from crane operators, engineers and construction crew.
Some cranes stay on top of the building for maintenance !
Right bro
usually much smaller or mobile around the top to cover all sides
Why are you yelling?
@@TGoud08 😳😆😆😆👌🏽
The cathedral in Cologne had a crane for a few centuries, they ran out of money.
Who else found this in their recommended
this question is from a google bot to check itf it works right? ;)
(paranoid after watching terminator:-westworld s03 ending)
ye
Me
Meeee
Yup
So, I worked at construction sites and watched this happening (though I took no part in it directly) a d not only is it explained perfectly and animated wonderfully, just watching this video made me feel anxious again :'D
It's truly somewhat nervewracking to watch it happen, there is something that feels just so weird about it for me.
Imagine being the first person ever to sit in a crane and operate it not knowing if it'll fall over or not 😂😂
Every crane gets weight tested after it gets put up for maxim load, but we only hold the load up just barely off the ground, both for max load and moment load,(how far out can you go) and set the limit switches so you can never go past those points or the crane shuts down
CRANE
Great recommendation. Whoever engineered this crane stuff is a genius
Currently pursuing a career in construction engineering and this is pretty neat. These machines have always fascinated me since I was a kid and they still do. My favorite models are the EC-H by Liebherr and the SK-575 by Peiner.
I love the peiner and linden cranes
Finally I have an answer! I was curious about how tower cranes are raised for years. Thank you!
I've never ever watched any of your videos
anything related
or even searched up anything related
but glad I found it lol
Watching the real one from the window and finding out on UA-cam how this giant thing built and works?
Thank you for sharing the information.
Ahh! Best 2AM YT videos
I was uplifted by the info in this video and the fact you used footage of an external crane to build the new Northwestern Mutual building in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (my home town)! 6:52 - 6:57
🏗 👍
Same lol i live there
Long time ago I said that this channel is just amazing. Nowadays, I still say the same! Great job!
Spoken as a third generation Ironworker, this was well done. One addition to your video, is that new bolts must be used with every new install.
Greetings from Bulgaria, I have been wondering for two months how this crane was built, thank you very much.
This is way more interesting to learn than the big bang theory.
This kind of thing is fascinating. Makes you wonder the particular people who mastermind the whole operation. Some people have such specific/rarely-needed jobs but are of utmost importance.
Always wondered about that and the cranes that are placed in the middle of the building are even more astonishing when you don't know how it's done. Would love to see it live
Even just seeing the animation gave me anxiety
Man, that is a brilliant idea. I had seen these cranes getting taller and taller as the building gets taller and taller and had often wondered how it it getting taller without disassembling it. Now I know. Thank you sir for revealing the truth. This is awesome.
I was looking at a crane the other day trying to work it out..... Did my head in. So glad you explained it well. So the arm is built flat on the ground and raised.. makes sense now. Thanks for the vid
When the video started I thought I had clicked a Peter McKinnon video
Haha I'm a big fan of Peter's work and he definitely inspired the intro. It's a lot of fun to make these short cinematic sequences and I love including them in my videos!
@@ArtofEngineering He means the intro music.
This was a question my brain always asked me while travelling in the city. Thanks!!!
One of my adulthood mysteries has been resolved, thank you! 🙏
I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! I first wondered about this close to 30 years ago. Everyone I asked did not know the answer. I did not know the correct terminology - tower crane, and today, by pure chance. I finally have the asnwer!
I was an ironworker in Boston and there is a pecking order with all the trades in large scale steel-reinforced concrete building (of course ironworkers exist at the top to ironworkers). Was like, laborers at the bottom, internal finishers and plumbers up from there, all the way to the ironworkers, riggers and fitters. But all the posturing and BS the ironworker foremen had stopped when the crane's showed up. Those operators are THE most respected folks on any job outside the owner and architects.
It all started with the egyptgians 5000 years ago; we've come a loooooooong way baby
Juan Fonseca , except we can’t build a pyramid anymore.
You must mean the hebrews.
Kmb YTT , someone had to finance them.
Africans
@@D-B-Cooper Don't limit our potential. Maybe archeologists and other "experts" cannot build a pyramid but give the job to engineers, craftsmen and laborers, and it will be done. If you provide the funding I'll see to it that you have a pyramid at least the same size as the largest one in Egypt. Hit me up anytime when you're ready.
Start watching at 2:10. You're welcome.
I’m glad I found this in my recommended I always wondered how these cranes appeared from nowhere.
Well we usually put them up and take down on weekends just so we can close the roads and less people around. The erecting crane does take up some room and the trucks supporting it and all the parts of the tower crane need to be able to get in and out
No kidding, this vid showed up randomly. Yet, it provided info I have desired but never enough to do a search for it.
I'm actually pretty happy to learn this about cranes. Because a few times here and there this topic has come up. Very cool to simply know the processes! :)
For decades I've been meaning to find out how cranes do this, but the thought always happens when youtube has not been at my finger tips.. After watching this, I can declare my life's education is now complete.
Does anyone else get anxious watching the crane, feels like the animation could collapse any moment.
I don't think you should pursue a career in tower cranes or huge buildings lol
Your videos are some of the most interesting ones I see in here, thanks for your work
I always wondered how a tower crane was able to be removed from a building. Thanks for the information
What’s cool about the internal tower cranes is the space occupied by the tower crane becomes an elevator shaft once the crane is removed.
The company I work for does this (were in the vid a bunch actually) and this is by far the most technical, and most precarious work any technician has to do
*"I used the tower to build the tower"*
Hi
>Me: I should go to sleep.
>Also Me at 11:26 PM: How Tower Cranes Build Themselves
Bruh it’s 11:26 as I read this wtf 😂😂
@@zakary5309 11:36 when I read it lmao
Your videos are miles better than some TV documentaries! No repetition or filler.
This is exactly what I've been wondering all my time whenever I find cranes at construction sites. I've been in Qatar for almost 15 months now and, as one of the most developed countries in the world, cranes are everywhere busy building skyscrapers and I've wondered how they suddenly get higher on site and how firm they stand in the ground. Thanks for sharing.
I have wondered about how this is performed for years. Thanks for a really good exposition.
I've always wondered how they assembled those cranes. Very informative and great use of physics.
I've been wondering about this for years... finally!
Question: In the second method of climbing, what happens to the big long hole in the building once construction is complete? Does it just turn into an elevator shaft or is that hole just considered lost space?
Always wondered the same thing myself.
Most case scenarios it is lost space already
If I had a good bet I'd say they were turned into elevator shafts or fire escape stair shafts.
No all they do is pour concrete to fill it in... They usually already have stairs and elevator shafts
This happened to a job in Panama years ago, it was a linden 130 that was floating in the building, when you jack it up there must always be atleast 2 floors around the crane to wedge it off, well they screwed up and jacked it past that 2nd floor, the crane fell over fowards because the balance weight on the jib and stopped when the jib hit the building, the operator fell about 20 feet out the window and they never saw him again, true story
Thank you for the explanation, before i thought they just magically spawn as i never witnessed one being assembled 🤣🤣
I live in Chicago and have 3 tower cranes operating around me downtown. I just see them getting higher and higher but always miss the jacking process. Thanks for breaking it down!
Very interesting. I watched two different buildings go up a few years ago. One had the external crane and the other the internal crane. NOW I know how they built both as it certainly stumped me.
Interesting that some of the terms used for these cranes, such as jib and luff, seem borrowed from those used with the masts of sailing ships.
Guess it's all about the basics of distributing dead and live loads using parts working in both compression and tension. The principles developed over centuries of sail using mast, spars and the like connected with copious amounts of rigging laid the groundwork for the engineering behind these cranes. Nice to see that heritage reflected in the terms used today.
Nobody in a tower crane ever wants to hear a boom, that means something just broke big time, usually a cross strut right beside the cab
Fawk. I got nervous watching the animation of the external crane. . .
Halo
There is nothing like getting a bird's eye view; this top-floor explanation raised my knowledge to dizzying new heights. Thanks.
I have done a few Tower Crane’s in my day. Ironworker out of 118. It can get a bit hairy when you cut everything loose and start “jacking the rig”.
Got some great pics from up there!
I hope everyone is fine...
Anshu Narware Kind of obvious that not everyone is fine. Keep those dumb irrelevant comments for yourself.
The most impressive part of this whole process is the fact that it relies on a hydraulic jack being able to lift all that weight.
Welcome to Hydraulic Jacks. They can lift much more than a couple of dozen Tons worth of Crane.
@@Genius_at_Work Wait for real? how strong are those things?
The main thing I always wondered wen seeing cranes is how do the steel rods support that weight, is it related?
@@micaelgarcia1576 first for context, a Hydraulic press is effectively a hydraulic jack just designed to, well, press things together (a basic Hydraulic press can actually use a hydraulic bottle Jack for the press mechanism).
As of today, the most powerful press can exert a force of 80,000 Tons, or 72,574,779 Kilograms, so there's your answer
@@cpufreak101 wait what
I read that as "80.000 kilos" at first, and thought it was a lot... ok then, yeah, that is a lot more than I was imagining, wayyy more, wow
Der Bleifuss try 280,000 pounds
Dang that seems like it would be super sketchy but they do it all the time so I guess it works haha
I mean, balancing the top of a crane on top of a hydraulic jack is pretty sketch no matter how you look at it, they just figured out the least dangerous way of doing it.
I could never be a crane operator, never you couldn’t pay me enough. My god, these guys have balls of steel.
I admire workers and engineers can work at such height and still remain calm.
Why don’t they make them remote control with a bunch of cameras for the operators.
They all are, but we still can't beat the situational awareness of sitting up there, with your own eyes ^^
U perform best when your life is at stake
Wouldn’t you rather be in control of your life all the up there instead of a remote that can fuck up whenever
If a mistake is made with remote control, how are you going to rebuild the crane?
With a remote control you can run the crane but you can't feel the crane. I have run a couple from the deck er working floor but there are too many distractions and you can't see everything. I had 1 crane where the cab was located half way out on the jib, I am really glad they did it for only 1 crane all you did was bounce around all day long and was physically draining by days end
"Mom? Dad? How are cranes made?"
"Well son, when a crane and crane love each other..."
Wow! I often wondered how they kept up with the height of the building, thought it was some trickery down at the base, never seen one building itself like this, hauling up sections etc 😯⚠️
My 9 year old son wanted to know how tower cranes increased their height, this video satisfied his curiosity. Brilliant stuff
This aint no joke.
I always wondered how they climbed themselves. Thank you for the explanation! Well done!
Great, now everytime I see a crane climbing nearby
I panic and stare at the hydraulics if it's alright
Well this was the coolest damn video I've seen in a while, mad props bro.
Subscribed.
Cranes fascinate me - they really do - cant imagine me on top of that crane by myself- salute to the operators
Supposed to be working right now, but watching this instead. I watch this machine every day. I need this information, lol.