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He Finds Uses For Trampoline Frames
Much to his wife’s dismay, Mike Bube has been known to bring more items back from the landfill than he takes there. While he tries to practice restraint, the one item he never passes up is a free trampoline frame.
    “The frames are so versatile. Everything is a slip joint, so you don’t need to screw it together. You can keep them outside because they are built for outside. The tubing is heavy-duty galvanized, so it is strong,” Bube explains. He points out that usually there is nothing wrong with the frame, but people get rid of trampolines when the mesh and netting deteriorates.
    Some of Bube’s best creations with the frames hold livestock. His mobile chicken pen came from a 13-ft. dia. trampoline frame that he extended with pvc pipe and zip ties to create a dome with bird netting over the top to keep out chicken hawks. Because it is lightweight, the pen can be moved to new grass as often as needed.
    Bube used the same technique to keep rabbits in a pen with the addition of fencing and chicken netting wrapped around the base. And, when his daughter wanted to raise a 4-H calf, Bube made a pen for it. It worked well during the summer for her to work with the calf and move around the yard for fresh pasture.
    Bube also likes to use trampolines in other ways.
    “I broke one down and reassembled the slip joint pieces to use for sawhorses,” he says. He tops them with plywood for a work bench that’s at a comfortable 36-in. working height. He’s also placed two 16-ft. sections of an extension ladder over the trampoline sawhorses to hold a couple of pieces of plywood to make a long table for family gatherings or craft projects. It can also work as scaffolding.
    When not in use, Bube breaks the sawhorses down and stacks them in a bucket.
    With spring coming, the Nashville, Ind., recycler says he was looking for another trampoline frame to create a greenhouse. He “shops” for them by checking out free items people pile out by the curb and by checking out the free listings on Craigslist.com.
    Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Mike Bube, P.O. Box 409, Nashville, Ind. 47448 (ph 812 988-8561; theshop54@juno.com).


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2018 - Volume #42, Issue #3