Every Construction Machine Explained in 15 Minutes

A very quick overview of nearly every machine you'll see on a construction site

It takes a lot of big tools to build the roads, dams, sewage lift stations, and every other part of the constructed environment. To me, there’s almost nothing more fun than watching something get built, and that’s made all the better when you know what all those machines do.

Practical Engineering is a YouTube channel about infrastructure and the human-made world around us. It is hosted, written, and produced by Grady Hillhouse. We have new videos posted regularly, so please subscribe for updates. If you enjoyed the video, hit that ‘like’ button, give us a comment, or watch another of our videos!

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DISCLAIMER
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This is not engineering advice. Everything here is for informational and entertainment purposes only. Contact an engineer licensed to practice in your area if you need professional advice or services. All non-licensed clips used for fair use commentary, criticism, and educational purposes.

SPECIAL THANKS
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This video is sponsored by Nebula.
Stock video and imagery provided by Getty Images, Shutterstock, and Videoblocks.
Tonic and Energy by Elexive is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License
Video by Grady Hillhouse
Edited by Wesley Crump
Written by Ralph Crewe
Graphics by Nebula Studios

[PracticalEngineeringChannel]

🏗Hope you don't mind me trying something a little different. What machine would you add to this list?

[tgruetzm]

My wife and I have always enjoyed your videos. Our son (18 months) is obsessed with construction equipment. We don't really let him watch TV unless he is sick but we discovered this video today and have NEVER seen him so happy and engaged beyond seeing the vehicles in real life. Thank you for inspiring the next generation of engineers!

[athompso]

I wish this had been an hour-long video that went into more depth on each machine.

Two other industries with lots of bizarre equipment that I'd like to see explained are Railroads, and Forestry.

[Rulerofwax]

This started to feel like a children's book in the best possible way with how you kept up the pace and succinctly explained each machine

[ZGryphon]

I spent a summer in college working on a large construction site, and during one of my first days on the job I received a piece of advice from one of the equipment operators that has stayed with me for going on three decades now. Lucien was an ancient French Canadian who drove the bigger of the two excavators on the site, and I'm pretty sure could have performed heart surgery with it if he'd had to. One morning before climbing into his office for the day, he noticed a bunch of us young guys standing around admiring his rig, gestured to the business end, and told us in his impenetrable Acadian accent, "You guys stayway funat bocket. Thas donzhrus." Best safety briefing we got all summer.

[kodys]

The best parts about being an engineer for a company that makes heavy, off-road, industrial machines is 1) seeing them working out in the real world and 2) having scale models of those machines on your desk to drive around.

[test]

I really had no appreciation for civil engineering until I discovered this channel. Thanks you!

[victorzocom]

Excavator 0:45
Skid Steer 1:03
Loader 1:26
Dump Truck 1:44
Articulated Hauler 2:13
Scraper 2:22
Backhoe 2:41
Bulldozer 2:52
Trencher 3:07
Grader 4:00
Roller Compactor 4:17
Asphalt Paver 4:43
Slip Former 5:05
Asphalt Mill or Planer 5:40
Paving Train 5:59
Trailer 6:26
Light Tower 6:28
Air Compressor 6:35
Diesel Generator 6:47
Crane 7:00
Pipe Layer 7:06
Telescopic Handler 7:22
Boom Lift/Scissor Lift 7:40
Bucket Truck 7:53
Road-rated All-terrain Crane 8:00
Rough-terrrain Crane 8:22
Crawler Crane 8:35
Tower Crane 9:09
Launching Gantry 9:32
Pile Drill Rig 10:22
Pile Driver 10:36
Mixer Truck 10:55
Concrete Pump 11:20
Ride-on Trowel 11:40
Mobile Batching Plant 11:50
Shotcrete 12:15
Directional Drilling Machine 12:37
Soil Nail Rig 13:04
Grout Plant 13:17
Wick Drain Machine 13:27
Cured-in-place Pipe Lining 13:43
Tunnel Boring Machine 14:02

[magnum_dingus]

CAT dealership mechanic here. Loved it. Would also love to see one on the forestry side of things. Skidders, feller-bunchers, knuckle boom loaders, etc.

[nomoneyglobal]

Im a mechanic/yard hand at an excavation firm, I get to play with all these toys everyday and here I am on my night off watching a video about them.

[serbianman]

I think we are pre programmed from birth to get excited when we see excavators and bulldozers and other construction equipment i swear.

[SteveRamsey]

What a fun, interesting video! Great job Grady!

[graysonmclester]

Love the video! Sad one of my favorites didn't get a mention: the snooper truck. A cousin to the boom truck that. Instead of lifting the bucket to a high point, it is designed to allow the bucket to go underneath the truck. They are typically used when inspecting a bridge, the truck parks ontop of the bridge and the boom is used to move the bucket so that the occupants can inspect the underside of the bridge for damage or other signs of wear that may need to be fixed.

[MarkAbele]

Just made my 3 year old's day! This will get watched countless times! (Also may cost us some more Bruder toys, haha)

[mafarnz]

The machine that you call a pipe layer is very common in the railroad industry, where they are called “side booms”. They are commonly used in derailment cleanup jobs. Two or more side boom dozers are really useful for picking up and moving rail cars back to good track or moving out of the way for track rebuilding. Large heavy locomotives can take 6 or even 8 side booms to pick up and move, which requires careful coordination by each operator.

[SkyhawkSteve]

I spent 20 years as an engineer at one of the "big yellow machine" companies, and it's a challenge to keep up with all of the stuff being produced! A bit more detail on each subgroup of machines might be fun. Even I learned a bit in this video!

[mr.d.rektorstudios]

Every time Grady talks about how much he loves watching construction, it reminds me of my idea that I think state departments of transportation should set up live feed cameras of the worksites, and put them on their websites and youtube channels, and when a job is done, take that video footage, speed it up to a more reasonable watchtime, and then upload those as well. Not only would people enjoy watching it, it would raise awareness about just how much the process involves, be useful for education, get more people interested in going into those fields, and it would (hopefully) encourage onsite safety.

[StageManagerKieran]

I would love to see a breakdown like this for the airport / airline industry!

[jordanamoth]

One thing you missed is a hydrovac. It uses water to remove soil around existing pipes so it's safer to dig around live wires

[leozaro]

As someone who works for a Caterpillar dealer I loved this video. I would be really interested to see you cover the automatic grade control construction machines are using now. Great video!