Question for crane operators... so BoomerD :P

[Locut0s]

What to they do with the crane tower structure after they build the building around it? I used to think that the steel box structure became the elevator shaft in the building but I never really gave much thought to it. The other day I was looking at a crane tower and I realized that the tower is far too narrow to be the elevator shaft. Yet quite often the crane tower is left inside the building as they build around it. Is it not? What happens to this "shaft"?

 

[BoomerD]

What to they do with the crane tower structure after they build the building around it? I used to think that the steel box structure became the elevator shaft in the building but I never really gave much thought to it. The other day I was looking at a crane tower and I realized that the tower is far too narrow to be the elevator shaft. Yet quite often the crane tower is left inside the building as they build around it. Is it not? What happens to this "shaft"?

It comes down...
They are often built inside/attached to the elevator shaft though...makes dis-assembly easier.

This is heavily over-simplified...but you ARE Canadian...I don't want to make it TOO difficult for you...

http://www.helium.com/items/2084767-how-do-tower-cranes-lift-themselves

Personally, I do NOT like tower cranes. I've run ONE in my life...I was required to spend 8 hours in one during my apprenticeship...185 feet in the air, over Deaconess Hospital in Spokane...in December.

Haven't been in one since...and quit two jobs when they tried to force me to run one when they couldn't get an operator from the hall.

 

[lxskllr]

Personally, I do NOT like tower cranes. I've run ONE in my life...I was required to spend 8 hours in one during my apprenticeship...185 feet in the air, over Deaconess Hospital in Spokane...in December.

Haven't been in one since...and quit two jobs when they tried to force me to run one when they couldn't get an operator from the hall.

How come. Heights, or being trapped in a cab all day?

 

[BoomerD]

How come. Heights, or being trapped in a cab all day?

Heights. It's funny, airplanes don't bother me, I can jump out of them...and helicopters too...but I can't look over the edge of a TALL building...I can't walk the high iron with the iron workers, and tower cranes...no thanks.

This kind of thing is bad enough...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJpI3_TkSpU&feature=related

 

[lxskllr]

I don't know what I'd think on being in a tower crane. I'm not a fan of heights, but I do ok climbing, and bing in enclosed areas. What really bothers me is walking steel laterally. I started out doing it unclipped, but I got less tolerant of it as years went by, and in the last years, I'd be in a constant state of panic, even when clipped in.

Night work was the worst. Light plants blinding you half the time, and making weird shadows the rest of the time. Iron workers leaving shit laying all over the beams, and the god damned splice plates. I hated walking on them :^D

 

[The Boston Dangler]

Heights. It's funny, airplanes don't bother me, I can jump out of them...and helicopters too...but I can't look over the edge of a TALL building...I can't walk the high iron with the iron workers, and tower cranes...no thanks.

This kind of thing is bad enough...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJpI3_TkSpU&feature=related

holy shit, that thing was a buckin' bronco even before the ground gave out. i wouldn't have parked a 10,000 lb truck there, never mind that crane.

 

[iGas]

Sometime crane base is in the basement/garage for ease of removal.

Horrible Crane Accident

Crane Accident - Australia (NSFW - contains bad language)

 

[iGas]

Heights. It's funny, airplanes don't bother me, I can jump out of them...and helicopters too...but I can't look over the edge of a TALL building...I can't walk the high iron with the iron workers, and tower cranes...no thanks.

This kind of thing is bad enough...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJpI3_TkSpU&feature=related

I have the same problem. A few years back I had to do inspection on ledge of a 32 stories building, and I had to take 10-15 seconds to compose myself before I went out.

 

[BoomerD]

Sometime crane base is in the basement/garage for ease of removal.

Horrible Crane Accident

Crane Accident - Australia (NSFW - contains bad language)

I've seen both of those before. I worked for Lampson, the company that owned Big Blue. That one was a Transi-Lift...1500 ton crawler crane.


Tower Cranes have to be planned well in advance. Yes, they usually pour a special pad in the basement to attach the base...

This isn't the type I had to run...but I've helped assemble them before. (this vid eventually shows the view from the seat)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ib3c3lJfVAA&feature=related

The "hammerhead tower crane" is the type I was in.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcyqdDrOtnQ&feature=related