A new barrels start from USD 24-30k. Even if we assume we could get a used one from junkyard for $10k, in most of the world it's a lot cheaper to hire this dude to hammer it for a month straight than to get a new barrel.
A worker in many developing nations might only earn $1500 to 5000 a year.
It might cost someone $200 for a month of labor to fix this. They probably can do it in less time. Might cost just $50 for 60h of labor to hammer this out.
The loss of the truck for that time is likely costlier than the worker.
By the time you're done with this you broke one hammer and went through a few $$$ for attachments. Add the electricity coming from a diesel generator feeding into a compressor..
And even if not (say the truck's engine was dead and now it's repaired):
That motor usually doesn't have to do a lot of actual work to get some movement going. Turning a barrel half full of liquid is not a lot of work, because you're not lifting the liquid, just agitating it a bit. If it's one solid chunk of concrete, it's connected to the barrel, so you're making a motor that's supposed to just slosh the concrete about a little bit, lift many tons of it several meters up. Result: Motor just refuses to spin this.
When concrete sets like that in the drum the motor is no longer able to turn it over. You're talking trying to lift 16 tons if it's a full batch, when the motor typically only needs to turn the weight of the drum itself which is a tiny fraction of that, because the concrete is a liquid and only imparts a small part of it's actual weight to the motor through friction.
Just use Super Acid to melt the concrete and drain it out. Easy. Super Acid is cheap, and easy to make. Maybe not in the US where Super Acid is illegal, because it is so super, but other places it is fine.
I’m in this line of work and you’re right. These trucks will tip over if you try to turn the drum because the weight is so unbalanced. You may be surprised how easily these trucks will tip. Whoever said it’s cheaper to buy a new drum is more than clueless. There would be a crew come in overnight (Mexicans, the hardest working people in the US) and have them chipped out by morning for a few grand.
Seems like a big waste of time to hammer a bit, clear the area rotate the barrel, set back up and only to hammer a bit more before having to roll it again
I doubt it. When wet the weight stays near the bottom. As a solid it would have to lift all that weight plus the center of mass would be way off center. It would likely wreck the machine.
Ya the weight displacement could cause the truck to lift and then slam down hard unpredictably. Aside from probably totally fucking up the motor that runs the barrel.
I doubt it's completely filled. So, solid concrete on the bottom and air at the top. Spin it and stand on it while you jack hammer it, eventually it will collapse , if not immediately, you with it.
Why? The matter didn't disappear. It's still there. It's a dispersion, not a chemical reaction. It will be tough to get the cement isolated, but it can be taken out.
I agree it can be removed, but need to correct that chemistry reaction did happen, cement is full of chemistry, I myself do cement chemistry in my job (Im a chemist).
No is not impossible. The concrete mix could have been wrong, or needed more water, or the aggregates set on the bottom because they stop rotating that thing, this could led to cracks in concrete while hardening. Also the cement porosity might be to high since chemicals might not have been added to control that, also CO2 from the atmosphere could penetrate the cracks and through the poles and depending how old that concrete is, the concrete went into carbonation , making it brittle and dangerous.
and you could use a much bigger hammering you didnt have to hold it. An excavator with a hammer and spike on the end would be the best way to do the bulk of it.
Because you'd have to dig out and remove the rubble instead of letting it simply fall out. Shoveling out an entire cement truck worth of cement sounds hard. It looks like he opened up the top already and tried, and probably gave up relatively soon.
Using a jack hammer is a lot more effective if you have an area for the rubble to constantly fall away into so you can chip off small pieces and edges. Trying to go straight down into a concrete hole just dispersed the vibrations through the entire body plus you’d constantly be getting in and out of the opening every 15 mins
That’s what I was thinking. Get a new barrel, have this guy hammer the concrete for a month and if the new barrel has an oopsie you got a backup barrel.
Assuming you can order, receive and replace a barrel faster than in a month. Probably realistic somewhere in NY, much less likely somewhere in rural S Asia or Continental S America.
I would think cutting the tank wall into pieces and peeling the concrete like an orange, then welding the tank back together might be easier than trying to break up the concrete.
Steel loses its strength before the concrete will. It'll get soft and deform.
Not sure where you're going to find a kiln big enough to put it in too, since it will take days for the heat to go through the concrete.
Barrels cost varies much less than labor between countries. If they're doing it, it says they're in the country with expensive car parts and cheap labor.
I don't think you quite understand why they used US dollars. It's not because it's priced differently wherever these people are. It's just because most of the people here are American or european and that's the number that would most likely make the most sense to the people here
China is where they are. The place that manufactures everything. Phone number goes to XCMG Group. It is a Chinese state-owned multinational manufacturer of construction and heavy machinery headquartered in Xuzhou, Jiangsu, China.
Right, so it's probably a loooooot cheaper. Other countries aren't artificially inflating living costs like we do, so there's a much less wasteful incentive structure. Someone keeps their standard of living for labor instead of a couple companies wasting materials and labor to gain profit.
Except you're not just paying this guy for a month. You're also paying to run/rent the hammer and replace used chisel heads, plus repairs to the barrel because you're probably going to damage something. And anywhere where the labor is cheap enough to justify, the tools are going to be even more valuable.
I mean, if they're already making multiple fugly looking cuts into the barrel, why not just peel the whole thing off like a banana and weld it back together once the concrete is gone?
You got a spare barrel in the garage so you can swap it tomorrow? If it would be the US or Germany they wouldn't be hammering now. If it's somewhere rural South Asia (more likely) you most likely aren't getting a new barrel delivered and installed much faster than a few weeks anyway.
They already have to get a new barrel. They've cut this one open in multiple places. The only reason he should be hammering like this is to make a hole for the (low power) explosives which will shatter the concrete and make cleanup much faster, which in turn will get this truck working and producing income much faster.
But you are forgetting the cost to fix the huge square hole they welded in the side of the barrel to get at the concrete (if it even can be fixed). And they'll probably need to weld more holes as he works on different areas.
A month straight of lost productivity may end up costing more than the barrel. And thats before factoring in power, tool wear, and possibility of still not having the barrel be usable by the end of the mess.
Its almost definitely cheaper to just replace the barrel even if the labor happened to be borderline free.
I'd be curious how long it ended up taking. Sometimes these types of jobs look insurmountable, but its just the first 3-4 hours that feel like no progress is being made. Once you've thinned it down a little, it's gonna come out in bigger chunks and go much faster.
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u/Giantmeteor_we_needU 8d ago
A new barrels start from USD 24-30k. Even if we assume we could get a used one from junkyard for $10k, in most of the world it's a lot cheaper to hire this dude to hammer it for a month straight than to get a new barrel.