www.pedestrians... DC General Hospital being demolished with a wrecking ball. A little history of DC General Hospital: www.nlm.nih.go... Produced by John Z Wetmore, producer of "Perils For Pedestrians".
This was Monsour Hospital east of Pittsburgh,Pa. They started out usi g a high reach excavator but the building shifted and became unstable so they had to shift to the ole wrecking ball to finish it off
So creepy. I used to run service calls here in the 90's to work on their kitchen equipment. Watching this channel, a lot of places I worked are now gone.
I wonder why they used a wrecking ball instead of using another way to demo the building. It looks like it would take so much more time to demo it this way being such a huge building.
its cheap you can get the crane for under 60k at an auction. demo is hard on the machines why buy a multi million dollar highreach when you can buy a new dragline every job
These narrow steel columns are extremely hard to hit. And even if you hit it right and the column is already bent, the ball slips easily, causing a shock load on the line. The operator does some impressive swinging here, but I can see why he is preferring to use the drop-method instead. While he was doing the swing-thing, I would love to have the video zoomed out and showing the whole crane in total. Otherwise, great video and thanks for sharing!
The sky was pretty bright compared to the building, so I limited my wide shots. But next time I film a wrecking ball in action, I'll see if I can capture the crane swinging the ball. It might be a while - most demolitions around here are with excavators.
Maybe so but it sure as hell helps when you can hit where you should and not take an hr in between. Dont arm chair operator me Ive done this work for 29 years with Veit Demolition out of Minneapolis M. N. , how about you ???
Very satisfying to watch! To all you Armchair Crane Operators on here talking about what a horrible Operator this Guy is, let me tell you there is way more to it than just swing the Ball into the side of the Building. He is doing a good job processing the material into as small a pieces as possible before it gets to the ground. That is the objective here. Always some damn "Experts" in the crowd. Smh
The old timers used to put old truck tires between the connection for the ball and cable. It was for shock protection for the boom and cable. Guess the younger guys are too smart for that
@Albert Cyphers thats funny lm an old baller an we called them training tires for young green operators,boom shockload controled thru brake feel an experience,when skilled enough the tires gone an you go to bigger ball an startmakin hay!, less hardware on ball less hangups on structure
if you have a good operator the ball can kill the efficiency of a good jaw operator. but, its not seen enough these days for an average comparison to be made.
I like the old method of wrecking ball action. Yes, this could have also been done with a high-reach demolition excavator, but the crane and ball method is justified for this demo job. It comes down to total cost of demolition and the time alloted for the work (mobilizing men and machines, demo, sorting of material, amount of recyclable material, trucking, disposal of unusable material into commercial construction landfills, cleanup, etc.). This building is of steel-frame, with brick veneer and masonry backup. The operator has to remove the steel by shearing off the connections while working on the rest of the structure. The smaller you can break material during the initial process (with the ball), the less secondary breakage required, and easier to haul away, or process on site. Perhaps the height of the building was higher than the available high-reach excavator, hence the use of the crane. The crane being used is a Manitowoc 3500, a friction machine (using clutches and brakes, operated with both hands and feet), requiring skill to operate. It isn't easy spotting the ball accurately, and the operator goes home with a sore neck from having to look up all day!
Exactly! All the armchair crane operators just want to see huge chunks knocked off and the building to fall over. There is much more than that to be done, and it is obvious this operator is doing as much separation as possible before it hits the ground.
Thank you for pointing out which crane is used. I get interested into the classic Manitowoc friction machines more and more. It seems to me that Manitowoc and Link-Belt cranes are the top brands regarding wrecking ball jobs in the US nowadays - at least what I can judge by all the videos here on YT. And Link-Belt having more modern units out there for demolition. My favorite is still this old LOT P&H 790 TC! Best regards, Menck-Max
Not a wrecker myself but a painter. I wonder is it possible to attach some kind of remote video camera to a stick of A long reach excavator do the operator in the cab can see on the screen exactly what is happening perhaps 10 stories up.?
Clearly there is still a time and place for old school demolition methods. But it makes me wonder if that old lattice boom crane takes just as much of a beating as that building is taking...
Messer. Not allowing for the G force in rotation every swing so he misses over and over. Stops to look at his work after every thump. Instead of using the ball. Should have his rotation stopped and beginning to go back out as it strikes the he only needs to rotate half as much and works twice as fast Also worth noting is that dropping the ball shocks the crane way more than swinging. Nice camerawork. Nice Menke Crane.
The hospital was closed in 2001. The building then served as a homeless shelter, which in turn was closed. The buildings on the grounds were torn down to make room for redevelopment.
Apart from expensive explosives I can’t see what else they can use. When you think of a building demolition the first thing you think of is a Wrecking Ball.
Did the comments say that they had a high reach excavator ? Maybe something happened and they switched to the wrecking ball. The only thing I'll say is maybe a spotter to help the crane operator.
They were using the wrecking ball on all the tall parts of the building. They had a high reach excavator for the lower parts, and other excavators to handle all the rubble. Berg Demo has tons of equipment, and could have brought in whatever they needed.
Das ist ein wirklich schlechter Baumaschinenführer. Die Versuche mit der Abrisskugel das Gebäude abzubrechen , wirken ziemlich hilflos. Vielleicht sollte er sich mal die Videos der Fa. Luff aus Aschaffenburg ansehen. Werner Luff würde das Gebäude in einem Viertel der Zeit mit einer über 50 Jahre älteren Baumaschine (zum Beispiel mit einem Menck M152) abbrechen.
Needs to give the ball a bigger swing, and hitting empty spaces, the building may be well built, but a decent operator would have had the building down in no time,I know people are saying he's a good operator, even though half the time the ball is going into an open void, more damage from the chain holding the ball.
That has to be the worst operator of a ball and chain i`ve ever seen. I wonder if he know`s he`s being filmed. You must have the patience of a saint John.
Deze machinist bakt der niks van, zit geen lijn in wat ie doet met de kogel. Laat hem eens kijken family luff te Germany . En kijk hoe die man met de kogel werkt. Maar deze deze doet maar wat .
Good to see a wrecking ball still being used!
I like watching them too.
This operator knows what he is doing very good at his work.
Probably the quickest and fasted wrecking ball I've seen
This was Monsour Hospital east of Pittsburgh,Pa. They started out usi g a high reach excavator but the building shifted and became unstable so they had to shift to the ole wrecking ball to finish it off
Why didn't they just dynamite it
@@GLOATINGMAPLE01costs
This video keeps popping up on my timeline and it still excites me.
So creepy. I used to run service calls here in the 90's to work on their kitchen equipment. Watching this channel, a lot of places I worked are now gone.
This is a classic rather than an excavator
I wonder why they used a wrecking ball instead of using another way to demo the building. It looks like it would take so much more time to demo it this way being such a huge building.
its cheap you can get the crane for under 60k at an auction. demo is hard on the machines why buy a multi million dollar highreach when you can buy a new dragline every job
Even the missing shots are lethal causing damage 😮
These narrow steel columns are extremely hard to hit. And even if you hit it right and the column is already bent, the ball slips easily, causing a shock load on the line. The operator does some impressive swinging here, but I can see why he is preferring to use the drop-method instead. While he was doing the swing-thing, I would love to have the video zoomed out and showing the whole crane in total. Otherwise, great video and thanks for sharing!
The sky was pretty bright compared to the building, so I limited my wide shots. But next time I film a wrecking ball in action, I'll see if I can capture the crane swinging the ball. It might be a while - most demolitions around here are with excavators.
@@JohnZWetmore Great footage! Any idea on weight of ball?
5-6 tons..or more??
Maybe so but it sure as hell helps when you can hit where you should and not take an hr in between. Dont arm chair operator me Ive done this work for 29 years with Veit Demolition out of Minneapolis M. N. , how about you ???
Very satisfying to watch! To all you Armchair Crane Operators on here talking about what a horrible Operator this Guy is, let me tell you there is way more to it than just swing the Ball into the side of the Building. He is doing a good job processing the material into as small a pieces as possible before it gets to the ground. That is the objective here. Always some damn "Experts" in the crowd. Smh
Well said.
1922....98 years standing, but its time was overdue. There seemed to be a serious amount of rust on the 1922 portions of the steel frame and decking
The old timers used to put old truck tires between the connection for the ball and cable. It was for shock protection for the boom and cable. Guess the younger guys are too smart for that
@Albert Cyphers thats funny lm an old baller an we called them training tires for young green operators,boom shockload controled thru brake feel an experience,when skilled enough the tires gone an you go to bigger ball an startmakin hay!, less hardware on ball less hangups on structure
You don't need a tire when you been in the cab long enough. You get a good feel with these old friction cranes to cut the shock down son.
That's Smashing
if you have a good operator the ball can kill the efficiency of a good jaw operator. but, its not seen enough these days for an average comparison to be made.
This is oddly satisfying 👍🏼
And I thought only Miley cyrus rode the wrecking ball. Who knew it's still used to demo buildings.
So relaxing to watch.
I like the old method of wrecking ball action. Yes, this could have also been done with a high-reach demolition excavator, but the crane and ball method is justified for this demo job. It comes down to total cost of demolition and the time alloted for the work (mobilizing men and machines, demo, sorting of material, amount of recyclable material, trucking, disposal of unusable material into commercial construction landfills, cleanup, etc.). This building is of steel-frame, with brick veneer and masonry backup. The operator has to remove the steel by shearing off the connections while working on the rest of the structure. The smaller you can break material during the initial process (with the ball), the less secondary breakage required, and easier to haul away, or process on site. Perhaps the height of the building was higher than the available high-reach excavator, hence the use of the crane. The crane being used is a Manitowoc 3500, a friction machine (using clutches and brakes, operated with both hands and feet), requiring skill to operate. It isn't easy spotting the ball accurately, and the operator goes home with a sore neck from having to look up all day!
Exactly! All the armchair crane operators just want to see huge chunks knocked off and the building to fall over. There is much more than that to be done, and it is obvious this operator is doing as much separation as possible before it hits the ground.
@@mattm5730 You understand. There is always more than meets the eye. Demolition is a process.
Thank you for pointing out which crane is used. I get interested into the classic Manitowoc friction machines more and more. It seems to me that Manitowoc and Link-Belt cranes are the top brands regarding wrecking ball jobs in the US nowadays - at least what I can judge by all the videos here on YT. And Link-Belt having more modern units out there for demolition. My favorite is still this old LOT P&H 790 TC! Best regards, Menck-Max
He's scared swing that thing
Why is the operator removing the tonage that will help him or her drop the building in one
Not a wrecker myself but a painter. I wonder is it possible to attach some kind of remote video camera to a stick of A long reach excavator do the operator in the cab can see on the screen exactly what is happening perhaps 10 stories up.?
You know it’s a slow process when the video editor chops out repositioning the ball.
Clearly there is still a time and place for old school demolition methods. But it makes me wonder if that old lattice boom crane takes just as much of a beating as that building is taking...
these old cranes are cheap enough that they can buy one for every demo job
This is actually a 45 consecutive day time-lapse video.
Where did you purchase that ball from WalMart? You need about 10 to 20 Tons on that building.
Yes and a very very large crane to lift it, and if you miss?
Messer. Not allowing for the G force in rotation every swing so he misses over and over.
Stops to look at his work after every thump. Instead of using the ball. Should have his rotation stopped and beginning to go back out as it strikes the he only needs to rotate half as much and works twice as fast
Also worth noting is that dropping the ball shocks the crane way more than swinging.
Nice camerawork. Nice Menke Crane.
How about letting us know where these demolitions are occurring? “Arlington” doesn’t tell us much.
What goes up must come down.
Oh gosh, how heavy is that thing?
Wrecking balls come in a variety of weights, but a medium-sized one would be 2 to 3 tons.
@@JohnZWetmore thank you xxx
why was the hospital demolished?
The hospital was closed in 2001. The building then served as a homeless shelter, which in turn was closed. The buildings on the grounds were torn down to make room for redevelopment.
The operator would have had greater success had he swung a baseball bat.
We are BORG demolition
Their structural and material properties are added to ours. Resistance is futile.
Now I see and understand why we don't use wrecking balls that much anymore. They are too time and fuel consuming.
Apart from expensive explosives I can’t see what else they can use. When you think of a building demolition the first thing you think of is a Wrecking Ball.
This guy could not wreck a snowman
nice big water sprayer
Love..wecking..ball
nou lekker dan ... heb ik na 6 jaar wachten EINDELIJK een afspraak met dokter PUINRUIMER .........🤐🤕😷
The dust you see are the souls escaping from the walls.
Okay then....
You seem conflicted.
Did the comments say that they had a high reach excavator ? Maybe something happened and they switched to the wrecking ball. The only thing I'll say is maybe a spotter to help the crane operator.
They were using the wrecking ball on all the tall parts of the building. They had a high reach excavator for the lower parts, and other excavators to handle all the rubble. Berg Demo has tons of equipment, and could have brought in whatever they needed.
Does the debri get also separated at the end or just been transported as debri itself?🤔
The rubble is usually sorted into three categories: metal, masonry, and everything else.
lost some more history I bet the new place wont last as long
almost all of his videos is one hour two or three
Here are some shorter ones:
czcams.com/play/PLpdpl8imBL0ORDjbhQ2SglfbDW4UAttAq.html
They need more than a wrecking ball
They need some dynamite
yeahhhh,,,top!!!
bad operator
Love.the..wrecking
I could watch that wrecking ball swing into them walls all day. Would be a blast being able to destroy a building.
Isso sem contar a péssima ponteria c a bola d ferro.
3 strikes ur OUT!
Lil effect siccor crane b easier n quicker,still fun 2 watch
Das ist ein wirklich schlechter Baumaschinenführer. Die Versuche mit der Abrisskugel das Gebäude abzubrechen , wirken ziemlich hilflos. Vielleicht sollte er sich mal die Videos der Fa. Luff aus Aschaffenburg ansehen. Werner Luff würde das Gebäude in einem Viertel der Zeit mit einer über 50 Jahre älteren Baumaschine (zum Beispiel mit einem Menck M152) abbrechen.
I have seen many a demolition and operators 100x better than this one. But I do have to admit that building was built extremely tough.
Needs to give the ball a bigger swing, and hitting empty spaces, the building may be well built, but a decent operator would have had the building down in no time,I know people are saying he's a good operator, even though half the time the ball is going into an open void, more damage from the chain holding the ball.
very skilled operator
its not effectiv...
This is about as interesting as watching paint dry
That has to be the worst operator of a ball and chain i`ve ever seen. I wonder if he know`s he`s being filmed.
You must have the patience of a saint John.
You must not see much ball work then bud. And I bet you've never done any either.
50 plus comments of "expert" crane operators here. I wanna put you in a American 90t with a ball and see what ya all got. Bet yer not shit!
I🎉
Que trabalho mal feito e demorado c essa bola d ferro.
É dinheiro colocado fora!!
Deze machinist bakt der niks van, zit geen lijn in wat ie doet met de kogel. Laat hem eens kijken family luff te Germany . En kijk hoe die man met de kogel werkt. Maar deze deze doet maar wat .
a slow ass way
Schlechter Kranführer
This clown acts like he was put in the crane because they needed someone to run it. Obviously not for his skills
Oh yea? How long u been running crane? With a ball? Doing demo? I'll wait.
Guy cant operate....all over the place aint getn squat done
Months to build ! Decades to knock down!!! Worst operator in history!!!!!
Because you could have done so much better hay?
Always a damn Armchair Crane Operator on here!!!
@@1000jpok come on wake up takes him forever to line up his next blow and yes smart ass I could do better 37 years of it how about you?
@@phillipchambers8487 You must not see well
thats your opinion but its you that dont see