2018 - Volume #BFS, Issue #18, Page #94
Sample Stories From This Issue | List of All Stories In This Issue  | Print this story  | Read this issue]

    «Previous    Next»
Shop Tool Can Make “Almost Anything”
“About 7 years ago I designed and built a portable universal fabricating device. To advertise the machine, I used a picture of a pedal-powered playground-size yellow Ferris wheel that I built for my grandkids, and sales took off,” says Marshall Bulle about his UF-25H Universal Fabricator.
  He says the Fabricator is ideal for any project that requires forming square and round tubing, pipe, flat and solid bars. Most bending is done in 45, 90 or 180 degree bends, and he says that’s where the device really shines. He’s used it to build a merry-go-round, swing sets, lawn furniture, a greenhouse, 4-wheeler racks, ladder racks, brush guards, dune buggys, go carts, trailer hitches, ornamental railings, gates, and fences.  
  The Fabricator has a standard lock-n-stop gauge with an engraved numbering system. The gauge allows the user to repeat precise angles at a later time. Bulle has written plans books that include step-by-step directions for many different projects which he’s first built himself. In 7 years of selling the Fabricator he’s never had a complaint about the machine and very few questions about how to use it. He’s had industrial arts teachers tell him that students can easily understand the directions and many have used the fabricator to build projects that they’ve sold to bring in money for their schools.
   The Universal Fabricator sells for $6,998 plus shipping. Different attachments for producing scrolls, twists, bending square and round tube, flats and angles are available. The company also sells two different sizes of ring rollers.
  He built the wheel in about a week, which included drawing up the plans, fabricating the parts, assembling, welding and painting. The triangular base frame is made of round tubing and the wheel frame is made of square tubing. The wheel rides on bearings at the top of the base frame and is driven by a bicycle-type pedal system on one side. The pedaling, typically done by an adult, turns the wheel slowly with a chain drive. Both seats on the wheel have safety restraints so kids can’t accidentally tumble out. Says Bulle, “I’ve had a lot of experience fabricating and building, so I probably made the wheel faster than most people can, but anyone who’s adept at building can quickly learn how to use the fabricator and build the wheel and other things.”
  Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Shop Outfitters, P.O. Box 20106, 4932 Graneros Rd., Colorado City, Colo. 81019 (ph 719-676-5555; www.shopoutfitters.com).


  Click here to download page story appeared in.



  Click here to read entire issue




To read the rest of this story, download this issue below or click here to register with your account number.
Order the Issue Containing This Story
2018 - Volume #BFS, Issue #18