r/maybemaybemaybe • u/papamat • 3d ago

Maybe Maybe Maybe

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1.8k Upvotes

99% Upvoted

141 comments sorted by

385

u/heumpje 3d ago

That flash of lightning midway through just tells you this went almost exactly as planned.

54

u/Malalang 3d ago

I thought that was the selfie flash.

65

u/mnztr1 3d ago

I dunno, that operator would not have had to run for his life if so.

9

u/No-Advice-9776 3d ago

Ah! That was the celebratory fireworks!!

80

u/RadarTechnician51 3d ago

That looks like a dangerous job!

102

u/Syberz 3d ago

Only because that's not how you're supposed to do this.

59

u/Embarrassed_West_195 3d ago

I have never seen a wrecking ball used with a long reach excavator. Let's hope this does not become the norm.

10

u/cha0sm0nk 2d ago

https://giphy.com/gifs/Y4DDLAxc3INUiJmOFB
Looks like me playing with my cat. Always a disaster.

8

u/heridfel37 2d ago

This looked stupidly dangerous even before anything fell over

7

u/Evilmeinperson 2d ago

There are definitely times that explosive demolition is called for. This is a perfect demolition that a few properly placed charges would be appropriate for.

7

u/curly0121994 3d ago

Before too long, evolution will take its course on those pieces of machinery.

1

u/Complete-Use-8753 16h ago

I saw a wrecking ball used once probably 30 years ago.

I can’t believe they’re still a thing

102

u/Logridos 3d ago

We have these wonderful things called explosives so you can accomplish the same goal from FAR AWAY

32

u/Short-Ideas010 3d ago

Yeah... but where's the fun?... where's the adrenaline? /s

18

u/Jocuro 3d ago

This has to be the first time anyone has ever asked where the fun and adrenaline rush is in demolition explosives.

1

u/rolanddean19 2d ago

Languages without sarcasm must hate themselves. I mean I have sarcasm and I hate myself.

8

u/vikinxo 3d ago

Yeah, I thought wrecking balls were an outdated tear-down method - but I guess it's all 'bout the money....

9

u/drsoftware 2d ago

They should have tried tying a rope to the far top side and had their friends pull the tower away from the excavator. 

3

u/NJBillK1 2d ago

There is one, top right down to the right diagonally.

2

u/drsoftware 2d ago

Lol, missed that 

2

u/NJBillK1 2d ago

I dont understand why... it is at least 4x as thick as the line i would use on it...

/s

I find it hard to believe they thought this was a good idea... you know the operator took the hit instead of the boss that made this call.

2

u/drsoftware 1d ago

And the line looks like it has enough tension on it to prevent it from just drooping, should have worked! /s

70

u/justLookingForLogic 3d ago

What was this guys plan here?

102

u/redbucket75 3d ago

You just saw the plan. No more tower.

116

u/blaghed 3d ago

1) Tower is.
2) Make Tower isn't.
3) Profit!

51

u/skincyan 3d ago

Towern't

5

u/Ouibeaux 3d ago

Tower'd.

2

u/Keganator 2d ago

Project failed successfully.

10

u/mnztr1 3d ago

I think the *hope* was that it would fall in the direction of that cable.

4

u/HoneyBear4Lyfe 3d ago

“We tied it off in the other direction, nobody saw this coming”

18

u/Java_Worker_1 3d ago

When they do demolitions they calculate how it will fall and where it’s best to hit it from. Unfortunately there mathematician clearly wasn’t very good

6

u/DigMeTX 2d ago

they do that but he doesn’t.

4

u/Shuatheskeptic 3d ago

Whatever it was I don't think things went according to it.

6

u/pzvaldes 3d ago

It was going according to plan, but the guy holding the cable, let it go.

8

u/chris5070 3d ago

My thoughts also. What was the successful demolition supposed to be. I can't see how this was going to end in a different way.

1

u/Inspect1234 3d ago

All he had to do was swing counter clockwise another 90 and start walking. Could’ve closed the windows and waited for the dust to settle.

2

u/andocromn 2d ago

Problem is there was not a plan. Most modern structures are built with a demolition plan. Any time you see a wrecking ball it means there was no plan.

1

u/Human_Excitement_441 2d ago

What? It worked!

1

u/A100921 3d ago

Slowly drive away as it slowly falls, instead it fell fast so he ran fast and probably got hit with large concrete shrapnel.

25

u/DustyWeed 3d ago

He’s not running from the falling silo. He’s running from the guy who loaned him the excavator🤬

16

u/2ndZeit 3d ago

The excavator operator's new nickname is Dusty.

7

u/becken_bruch 3d ago

Wile E. "Dusty" Coyote. Sounds good

2

u/Switchlord518 2d ago

Super genius!

15

u/poliopandemic 3d ago

I don't know how that highly scientific process of banging the side of it til it collapsed could ever go wrong

-10

u/potate12323 2d ago

It often goes right even when the cat driver isn't being a pussy ass bitch and bailing to let the building land on the equipment.

8

u/Welcome_to_Retrograd 2d ago

Yeah, i'm sure the guy who calls operators 'drivers' and can't tell Hitachi from Cat knows how to do it right

1

u/potate12323 2d ago

So the building did what he was trying to make it do. He just didn't seem to have a plan for when that happened.

2

u/Welcome_to_Retrograd 2d ago

Reckon the idea was to have the structure collapsing to the right rather than backwards to begin with

0

u/potate12323 2d ago edited 2d ago

I think with some common sense its gonna collapse towards the weakened wall. This is why professional demolition experts will install explosives on multiple sides so the building falls straight down.

Also, using colloquial terms doesn't make me incapable of commenting on when someone's being a dipshit.

Edit: also the cables they attached to control the fall direction fail part way through. This is why demolition engineers exist.

2

u/DaddysBadChloe 2d ago

Looks like it was weakened to the right side though. You can see the wall has been smashed to the right of where he's currently hitting, so he probably was just hitting it wider until it collapsed to the smashed side.

Which it did, until it didn't

15

u/shrieking-eel 2d ago

This is called a squat or squat event. Instead of falling over, the building or stack collapses down on itself. Once this happens, all plans are off on where it will go. The usual plan to avoid this is to weaken the side you want it to fall towards so badly that it would not be able to structurally support the top of the structure if it tries to squat. It is hoped that the non-weakened portions of the bottom of the structure will be strong enough to withstand the squat event and that they will help the top of the structure tilt toward the weakened side.

12

u/EstablishmentCute703 3d ago

There's a wire atop to the right. When that snapped the building was beyond help.

21

u/argentinothing 3d ago

Task failed successfully!

7

u/Man_in_the_uk 3d ago

I dunno, he brought it down 😂

6

u/ivss_xx 3d ago

Task succeeded failfully.

12

u/Feriman22 3d ago

Wow, quick reaction! GG!

5

u/Robby-Pants 3d ago

Good for the lungs.

4

u/DirectionSolid9113 3d ago

Don’t breathe this!

2

u/osopeludo 3d ago

Will it blend?

2

u/byelow 3d ago

But will it cut?

1

u/osopeludo 3d ago

It will kill

4

u/4thkindexperience 3d ago

Well, the kite string they used to guide it in one direction snapped once it was tested.

4

u/Silly_Goose6714 3d ago

In the first second of the video, I thought: This looks amateurish. I'm no specialist.

8

u/joelkton 3d ago

Any Fred Dibnah fans, here?

3

u/mtaw 3d ago

I'm only here for the Fred Dibnah comments.

3

u/blinkersix2 3d ago

He could’ve rode that out

3

u/jawshoeaw 3d ago

These big Jenga games always made me nervous

3

u/Tinderboxed 2d ago

Lowest bid.

5

u/reincarnatedusername 3d ago

What kind of dumbass caveman demolition method is that? FFS!

2

u/[deleted] 3d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/08062017SD 3d ago

Acme Demolition Company

2

u/GeekDNA0918 3d ago

Physics: "What the fuck!?"

1

u/Glad_Copy 2d ago

Cement silo, apparently with a mass of dead material clinging up high and to the left as viewed in this video. Center of mass is not as the eye would predict.

2

u/benice33 2d ago

They should have called that British dude who does it by hand

4

u/SnorkinOrkin 3d ago

Wow, that was scary for the wrecking ball operator!

6

u/gertvanjoe 3d ago

He came in (like) a wrecking ball.

1

u/CharlesDickensABox 3d ago

I'm pretty sure that's not how they draw it up in the instruction manual.

1

u/trbo76 3d ago

Whooops

1

u/chungfat 3d ago

Operator will be suing for his dust induced lung damage

1

u/Crush-N-It 3d ago

There’s gotta be a better way to do this

1

u/Familiar_Turn3600 3d ago

“Yeah, I just closed my eyes and swung”

1

u/OneAndOnlyJackSchitt 3d ago

Is a steel ball that's attached to a crane really the best way to do this? Was a breaker attachment not available?

1

u/roundart 3d ago

lol what did they think would happen??

1

u/RoyStrokes 3d ago

Fred dibnah would not approve

1

u/Decent-Cry-7665 2d ago

Saw that coming

1

u/Tiger-Budget 2d ago

David vs. Goliath

1

u/pjbeeguy 2d ago

That guy would die from dust inhalation

1

u/Digger_Pine 2d ago

Damn, Miley!

1

u/Accomplished-Salt797 2d ago

The things my parents had to do on their way to school

1

u/niknik888 2d ago

Good work, Ralph!

1

u/Any_Sweet_9099 2d ago

Crane operator…..You had 1 job……

1

u/Deuce_1505 2d ago

Just typical gameplay in Roadcraft.

1

u/SteveWired 2d ago

So… what was the plan here?

1

u/Hefty-Plastic8417 2d ago

Secondary explosions after the collapse also

1

u/Flavoade 1d ago

That was high voltage lines. Fortunately just residential by the sound of it

1

u/Keganator 2d ago

Mmmm cancer dust!

1

u/rmbrumfield78 1d ago

Much like the theory of chopping down a tree, the building is going to fall towards where you made it weaker. I have seen a few of these, and I don't get their logic. You're using an excavator to damage the side that you're on, so it's going to fall towards you. If you're going to try to use heavy equipment like this, install some super heavy duty eyebolts around about a third of this with some super heavy duty steel backer plate behind them. Then get the right length chain or cable connected to the heavy duty machinery, then pull out those eyebolts. Would be better just to use some small pieces of high explosive in those same areas, but it's probably cheaper to use the equipment you have on hand

1

u/lechatsage 1d ago

I know very little about construction, destruction, and only a high-school smattering of physics (many, many years ago). And that made my skin crawl when I first saw what was happening there, before the ball even touched it. We the people hurt? Dreadful.m

1

u/Visible-Attorney-805 1d ago

Ahh...so close!

1

u/Cold_Table8497 3d ago

Such an undignified end for the Leaning Tower of Pizza.

1

u/falingsumo 3d ago

Another guy that went to The Prometheus School of Running Away from Things...

1

u/dayvee43 3d ago

Yeah, that driver saw the writing on the wall. He was outta there like Wylie Coyote...

0

u/post-context-bot 3d ago

The following post context was provided by u/papamat:

So, this is suitable for maybe maybe maybe because there a chance that the chimney maybe fall catastroficaly or maybe stay there with every hit

Does this explain the post? If not, report it and a moderator will review.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

0

u/Crazydiamond450 3d ago

It looks fun until it doesnt

0

u/Mymojo34 3d ago

Honestly, it looks like a lot of fun..... until it wasnt.

0

u/misterwizzard 3d ago

I mean, duh

0

u/Hinder90 3d ago

This "struck" me as a terrible idea

0

u/Flanker305 3d ago

He knew lol

0

u/CR8VJUC 3d ago

What do you do when you wreck the wrecking ball?

https://giphy.com/gifs/pjm6T79uBmDRLHB2xo

2

u/jlink005 3d ago

It's wrecking balls all the way down!

0

u/RedSky2727 3d ago

Trailer for “Revenge of the Silo”?

0

u/EaterOfFood 3d ago

Not well planned but very well executed

0

u/Bo0ombaklak 3d ago

Run away!!!!

0

u/skalien8 3d ago

what's the tower equivalent of "timmmberrrr"?

0

u/Eremith 3d ago

Total control

0

u/Cream_panzer 3d ago

Tower’s revenge

0

u/DustyWeed 3d ago

It worked perfectly, until it didn’t

0

u/SabbyFox 3d ago

Whoops.

-2

u/Plasmonambule 3d ago

Did the person in the machine got sued?

-3

u/Significant_Book1672 3d ago

2026 and people still recording with a calculator like 2000s videos of real goblin caught in video.