
Steel Cut, Liquid Out : Crane's Ballast Secret Exposed
In the video, A construction excavator equipped with dual-cylinder hydraulic shears dismantles a standing gantry crane in an open yard. The operator first cuts through the crane’s vertical steel columns with the shears. During this cutting, liquid flows out from inside the columns. This fluid is engineered ballast liquid—purposely sealed inside the hollow columns when the crane was built. Its role is to add controlled weight, lowering the crane’s center of gravity for wind resistance. The leakage reveals a hidden design feature common in heavy structures.