# PVC pipe 200 Watt Strip Light



## bpimm (Jun 12, 2006)

I'm the type of person that would prefer to build my own stuff rather than buy it, and if there is an accepted method then I try something else. so when I was looking for materials for lighting my 80 Gal open top tank, I found the new Lights of America 100 Watt 6500K CF flood lights. Hmmmmm. so I grabbed two.
I mounted them on a strip of OSB and hung it above the tank, has to be some of my finest work...










Ok so maybe not.... now thats UGLY!! Ok I need to build these into a strip light, so I go back to one of my favorite building materials PVC. one other thing to know about me, I'm cheap. I'm a project manager for an excavation company so I went out to the scrap pile and liberated about 6 feet of 8" sewer pipe, unused of course. this is what it looks like.










to cut the pipe and keep it straight I ripped a piece of plywood the width of the diameter of the pipe and screwed it to the pipe, this gave me a constant edge to run against the rip fence on the tablesaw, the result was a 3/4 pipe.










The excess pipe material was cut into smaller pieces to make the end caps and bulkheads. The beauty of PVC is it is heat formable so into the oven it goes, I use a couple steel plates and a bunch of lead weights to turn the pipe sections into flat stock. put the pvc into the oven at about 190 Degrees until it softens up then strech it out, put the second plate on top and add weight.










Once I have it flattened out I leave it in the oven for another Hour to anneal it then let it cool with the weight still on it. the result Flat PVC.










I glued the end pieces to the main body with PVC Cement and weighted them for the night.










I needed a couple bulkheads for the light sockets to mount to so I cut them out of flat PVC and shaped with a belt sander to fit.


















I drilled the bulkheads for the wires and screws to hold the Mogul sockets.










I glued the bulkheads in with PVC cement and let it sit overnight.










Of course I had to tear apart the fixtures to get the parts I needed.










oops, I follow directions so well 










That should be enough parts.

I mounted the sockets with some stainless screws and lock nuts.










I was going to use the shiny side of some aluminum but thought that might not be a very good refelector so a little brain storming later I came up with an idea. thats a lot of hard work for me.

Mirror tiles.

I started with the socket end and cut template and a tile to fit.










I cut the outside radius then used a glass grinder for stained glass to cut the inside J then cut the rest with a glass cutter then ground the edges smooth.










I just held the mirror in place with silicone.


















Same thing for the other end.










The next step was to drill some vent holes in the top of the light.










I made a couple v blocks to cover the holes but still allow airflow and siliconed them in place.


















I cut and fit strips of mirror to the blocks and up the sides to finish the refelector.


















Here is the refelector with the bulb installed.










Well thats it for now. it seems to work good it's sitting on the tank now but no pics of that until it's finished, it's ugly now.

Brian


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## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

Wow! What a great looking light fixture. I know glass, rear surfaced mirrors aren't the greatest reflectors, but it sure beats wasting all of that back surface light. Isn't it amazing the number of ways we all go in making lighting fixtures for our tanks? This one is a first I think.


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## bpimm (Jun 12, 2006)

hoppycalif said:


> Wow! What a great looking light fixture. I know glass, rear surfaced mirrors aren't the greatest reflectors, but it sure beats wasting all of that back surface light. Isn't it amazing the number of ways we all go in making lighting fixtures for our tanks? This one is a first I think.


Thanks Hoppy

Have you heard what the reflectivity of a mirror is? I thought it would beat white paint.

Brian


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## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

Wikipedia tells me the reflectivity of rear surfaced mirrors is around 80%, but part of the "loss" is reflection from the glass surface, which isn't really lost in your application. I had believed that the reflectivity was much lower. So, in my opinion, your glass mirrors will direct more of the light into the tank than a white painted surface would. One problem with a white painted surface is that the reflected light is diffused, reflected in all directions, rather than just reflected towards the tank. However, this is not the conventional wisdom.


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## BryceM (Nov 6, 2005)

Very nice. This is certainly one of the nicer applications I've seen for sewer pipe. 

The ingenuity of people who build things for a living is amazing. Thanks for sharing.


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## Kenneth (May 22, 2006)

Great job on the light fixture. Where did you find the flood light fixture?


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## Astral (Sep 24, 2004)

Great self portrait!


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## bpimm (Jun 12, 2006)

guaiac_boy said:


> Very nice. This is certainly one of the nicer applications I've seen for sewer pipe.


Thanks, I also have a pair of speakers on my desk that were built out of 12" sewer pipe.



Kenneth said:


> Great job on the light fixture. Where did you find the flood light fixture?


Thanks, hopefully it will look good when it's done. The flood lights came from Home Depot in the outdoor lighting section. Replacement bulbs are about $15 and the ballast looks easy so I may layout a circuit board for the ballast, then the cost of a 100 Watt CF retrofit package would be around $35.00.



Hoppycalif said:


> Wikipedia tells me the reflectivity of rear surfaced mirrors is around 80%, but part of the "loss" is reflection from the glass surface, which isn't really lost in your application. I had believed that the reflectivity was much lower. So, in my opinion, your glass mirrors will direct more of the light into the tank than a white painted surface would. One problem with a white painted surface is that the reflected light is diffused, reflected in all directions, rather than just reflected towards the tank. However, this is not the conventional wisdom.


Thanks for the numbers. I imagine that there are some attenuation losses from going through the glass twice also, and this is not the clearest glass I've seen. it is only .08" thick so maybe that helps. I can tell that there is a lot more light in the tank with the reflector than there was with just the white plastic in the original fixture.

Brian


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## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

Another way to "test" a reflector, which one of your photos shows, is to turn it over and look at the bulb by way of the reflector. If you can see virtually all surfaces of the bulb as reflections, then almost all of the light from the bulb is being reflected towards the tank. This isn't possible with a diffuse reflector, but shiny ones can really impress you that way.

By the way, are you related to Ralph Kramden's buddy Norton??? (Or am I showing my age here?)


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## MiSo (Nov 4, 2005)

i've got to say, this is one of the best diy's i've ever seen.


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## ruki (Jul 4, 2006)

It's much prettier than your earlier fixture.

To a purist, that style of bulb doesn't work with a reflector very well, but since it's a very cheap bulb, that may more than offset the physical shape limitations of the reflector.

*intended use of small CF lamps*
Those bulbs are designed to send light into a room from a central point, while wasting about half of it. You can easily see that light emitted along the inside facing portion of the bulb will be directed at an illumination tube. This is in addtion to that usually wasted along the inside of the folded-against-itself surface you see in Compact Fluorescent tubes. This still works out because longer tubes are more efficient that shorter tubes and even with this much light wasted, it's much more efficient than the traditional incandescent light bulb with all the heat produced from heating a fillament.

*CF reflector theoretical limitations*
The reflector looks optimal for this bulb with its angles pretty close to optimal in keeping light sent up into the fixture being sent back into the illumination tubes. But with all those tubes and and their bends, it's still a huge target.

This looks equivilant in output to a 100 watt linear tube fixture with a good reflector.

This housing looks like it would work even better with linear tubes. Any thoughts of trying that for comparison?


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## bpimm (Jun 12, 2006)

hoppycalif said:


> Another way to "test" a reflector, which one of your photos shows, is to turn it over and look at the bulb by way of the reflector. If you can see virtually all surfaces of the bulb as reflections, then almost all of the light from the bulb is being reflected towards the tank. This isn't possible with a diffuse reflector, but shiny ones can really impress you that way.
> 
> By the way, are you related to Ralph Kramden's buddy Norton??? (Or am I showing my age here?)


That is the theory I used to lay out the reflector, and why I took that photo.

The honeymooners aired 7 years before I was born and it wasn't until the mid 70's that I had a television so I don't have much familiarity with the show.



MiSo said:


> i've got to say, this is one of the best diy's i've ever seen.


That is quite a compliment, I'm honered.



ruki said:


> It's much prettier than your earlier fixture.
> 
> To a purist, that style of bulb doesn't work with a reflector very well, but since it's a very cheap bulb, that may more than offset the physical shape limitations of the reflector.
> 
> ...


I agree completely with your description of the CF bulbs, I was going to build a canopy using 48" T-8's, 6 would have given me 196 watts and probably more would have gotten to the tank. unfortunately this is a 46 3/4" long tank and I couldn't figure out a way to shorten the T-8 bulbs. this was the backup tank, I was working on a 90 Gal 48" tank and with the trim it would have been 48 1/2" and would have worked with the 48" tubes, unfortunately the 90 only has three sides left and it leaks a little, so for now I'm stuck with this short tank. this tank was also open top with no trim, I didn't think I would like it but it's growing on me. the sewer pipe idea came to me after buying the lights and trying to figure out how to get the light into the tank. I think it worked out pretty good considering the shortcomings of the CF bulbs. and besides 100 Watts for 35 bucks is hard to beat.


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## bpimm (Jun 12, 2006)

Update time:

todays project was to add the moon lights. I had decided in the past that the blue led's are to blue for my taste so I had added 1 blue with 2 Whites and aimed them together to come up with what I like. here is the process.

solder the three LED's together and add wires

























I used 7/16" cable staples to make the light unit, I had to drill them out a little to fit the LED's.










I drilled out the nail hole to fit a 4-40 stainless screw.










I epoxied the groups into the staples.


















then I drilled and tapped the housing and mounted the lights so they can be aimed.










Here you can see all three lights at a little angle to simulate moonlihgt rays.










to hold the light on the tank I cut some strips of pvc and laid it up to make a lip at each end of the light to keep it on the tank and it can sit directly on the tank.


















Here it is after a little sanding and bondo work, ready to do back on the tank.










on the tank.










end view.










I'll get to test the moonlights tonight, and it still gets pretty hot so I think I will have to fit some fans some how. More to come.

Brian


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## BryceM (Nov 6, 2005)

Why not add a coffee maker? Sweeeeet setup...


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## DataGuru (Mar 11, 2005)

Yea... my 65 watt LOA bulbs put off a lot of heat.

Consider adding one or two of the smaller screw in fluorescent bulbs in the middle. You might even get one of the 65 watt LOA bulbs to fit there.


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## bpimm (Jun 12, 2006)

guaiac_boy said:


> Why not add a coffee maker? Sweeeeet setup...


Thanks, it's coming togeather. the next phase shoulg prove interesting, so stay tuned. Oh, I don't know how to automate a french press. 



DataGuru said:


> Yea... my 65 watt LOA bulbs put off a lot of heat.
> 
> Consider adding one or two of the smaller screw in fluorescent bulbs in the middle. You might even get one of the 65 watt LOA bulbs to fit there.


The middle chamber holds the ballasts and other electrical stuff and the tank has a 3" wide glass brace in the middle so that is kinda dead space, but there are more lights coming. I also have to work out the cooling issues.

Brian


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## ruki (Jul 4, 2006)

I fear I was too critical in my response. I didn't mention that I thought that it was quite a beautiful fixture and was obviously constructed with some true handywork.

I'd really love to see what you would do with some T5 sized bulbs! That would be a [email protected] fixture in all possible regards.


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## bpimm (Jun 12, 2006)

ruki said:


> I fear I was too critical in my response. I didn't mention that I thought that it was quite a beautiful fixture and was obviously constructed with some true handywork.
> 
> I'd really love to see what you would do with some T5 sized bulbs! That would be a [email protected] fixture in all possible regards.


Thanks ruki,

Naw not too critical, a little sparring never hurt anyone. :fencing:

When I finish the 90 Gal I will use T-8 or T-5 bulbs. I need a 50" oven so I can reshape the whole length of pipe but I don't think I will have one soon.


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## bpimm (Jun 12, 2006)

After running this light for a day I came to the conclusion I had to have a fan. so off to the drawing board again, how to put a fan on a light with 5 separate chambers.

Well here is what I came up with tell me what you think.

I picked up a 120MM Computer fan that is thermostatically controlled. I decided to continue the PVC theme with this addition so I used a piece of 4" pipe, which was to small so I had to make a 4 3/4" pipe out of it.

I cut two pieces slit them and heated them up I reformed them on the carafe of my French press, it was the only thing I could find that was the right size.

for some reason I can't downsize this photo. I deleted the original on photobucket and re uploaded the small version, but it keeps coming back.


























I cut a piece of the second one to fill in the space, glued it up and reformed it on the carafe to get my plenum for the fan.










Then I added a flange to the plenum and drilled and taped it to 8-32 for the fan to mount to.


















I shaped it a little to fit the outside of the light housing.










The next step was to create some vanes on the fixture to pull the air out of the vent holes on top to the fixture. I cut some 3/4" strips of pvc and heat formed them to the fixture.


















They were then glued to the fixture.


















I made a front edge out of a ripped down piece of 1 1/2" PVC pipe, I shaped the top edge of the vanes to fit and glued it in place.










I weighted it in place with lead blocks.










Then I trimmed the other ends where the fan plenum will go and notched the plenum to fit.


















and finally glued it in place.


















To make a cover for the vanes I brought home a scrap of 10" pipe, I thought that it would be the right diameter to fit, but when I was struggling to get it out of my truck I decided it would add too much weight to the fixture so I needed to come up with something else. 8" pipe is 1/4" wall, the 10" was 7/16" wall, 4" is 1/8". So back to the oven, I slit three peices of 4" pipe length wise and heated them to open them up.










after one heat cycle I got them to this shape.










I did find a use for the 10" pipe, I used it to form the 4" pieces around.










doesn't everyone have 10" sewer pipe on their kitchen floor?

Here they are molded to their new shape.










The pieces were then cut to fit and I added some alignment tabs to help in the gluing process.










Gluing on the tabs.


















I failed to take any pics of this step until I was adding the ends, so here is how it looked before the ends were put on.










Here is the clamping method to hold the covers in place.










A little bondo and sanding and it's time to fit the fan.


























I also added a strain relief for the wires to come out of.










I cut the thermistor off of the fan and relocated it into one of the light bays.










this pic came out fuzzy, I think the camera focused on the mirror instead of the thermistor, but you can get the idea it's the little green disk.

The other thing I'm adding to the fixture is some accent lighting. I ordered 3 4700K 12V halogen bulbs to try out. I wanted to be able to aim them, so I needed some kind of aim able mounting bracket. I thought about this one for days before it came to me, Rear view mirrors. problem solved, so the GF and I headed out shopping... to the u-pull it wrecking yard. after wandering around for awhile I chose a ford mirror as it looked like a good fit, we got 3 of them.

I cut the mirror off of the mounting stem, which left me with a short shaft and two ball joints.










I used the belt sander to remove the double head to get a nice mounting flange.










I drilled and tapped them for 4-40 screws, and made a insulator spacer for between the bracket and the light socket.


















to mount the brackets in the fixture I cut some PVC to replace the steel buttons that glue to the windshield, and glued them into the fixture. for this I used super glue's plastic fusion epoxy, because I needed a strong gap filling glue.


























The light stock assembled.










and installed in the fixture.










I broke one of the stocks when I was modifying them for a little more angle on the head, so I have to go back to the u-pull it Bummer...

Here is a pic of the two spots in the tank.










I plan to add the third spot and then build a light controller that will slowly increase the brightness of the spots at turn on and then when they are on full, fire up the florescent bulbs, then the spots will turn off until shut down, They will come back up to brightness shut off the florescent bulbs and then gradually drop in intensity until they shut off leaving only the night lights.

That's all for now.


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## bpimm (Jun 12, 2006)

*Got the pics to work*

Got the pics to work


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## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

Still no coffee maker in there huh? Seriously, that is one of the most professional DIY projects I have ever seen. Congratulations on a great job.
Have you found a way to increase the ligh in the center, between the two main lights? The photo way above makes it seem much dimmer there, but that is probably an illusion.


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## bpimm (Jun 12, 2006)

Thanks Hoppy,

The weak light in the middle in that pic is more related to slightly cloudy water that shows the light beam in the water column. after the tank cleared up I don't notice that as much. the tank is scratched badly also and the scratches reflect the light and kinda glow right in front of the bulbs. the actual lighting for the plants is even at the bottom and pretty even up to about 6" from the water level.


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## Petfairy (Jul 17, 2006)

rayer: wow.. that light fixture is amazing. Good job.


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## onemyndseye (May 12, 2006)

Killer DIY Project!! 


Good Luck with it 

-Justin
One Mynds Eye


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## lbquoc (Feb 25, 2006)

This is one of my favorite DIY projects. Great info. Thanks


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## C.ton (Nov 6, 2006)

update please!!


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## bpimm (Jun 12, 2006)

Sorry, no updates yet, been working on other projects. I have a house to finish and a race car to finish for next season. it might be a while before I start the next phase on the light.

Brian


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## mahamotorworks (Nov 7, 2006)

That is the Coolest DIY Light Project that I have seen.

MAHA


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## mulligan (Dec 30, 2006)

This is a really cool project. 

Question: can you bend a radius in 3/4" clear PVC by heating it up like that? Will it discolor or collapse when you wrap it around a form. Clear PVC is expensive to experiment so I thought I'd ask someone who looks like they'd know.


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## bpimm (Jun 12, 2006)

mulligan said:


> This is a really cool project.
> 
> Question: can you bend a radius in 3/4" clear PVC by heating it up like that? Will it discolor or collapse when you wrap it around a form. Clear PVC is expensive to experiment so I thought I'd ask someone who looks like they'd know.


Thanks for the compliment, I don't know if the LOA lights are going to work out. I just lost the second ballast since I built it. This weekend I am going to tear into the ballast and see if I can figure out what the failure mode is and repair/redesign to correct the problem.

I will assume you are talking about 3/4" pipe not 3/4" sheet stock, I will start by saying that I have never worked with clear PVC, but I would say it will bend just like any other PVC pipe and it will definitely discolor if you over heat it, as to clouding from the heating process you will have to try and report back your findings.  To get a smooth tight bend you will need a form to bend it to that supports it like a tubing bender shoe as the pipe will collapse if you try to bend it tight. It works good for small bends, like a 10-12" radius but if you are going to try for a U tube for over a tank wall I don't think you will succeed. If that is what you are after US Plastics has clear 180 Degree bends here. PVC Flexible U-Fittings - US Plastic Corporation


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## gpimm (Sep 17, 2006)

Who's going to figure it out...? :twisted:


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## bpimm (Jun 12, 2006)

gpimm said:


> Who's going to figure it out...? :twisted:


You are not the only one with the application notes ya know, I may have been out of the electronics industry for 20 years and the mind may be a little foggy, and I never wore a pocket protector, but with enough coffee and head scratching I can make some sense out of the app. notes.

Yes, I will be bringing it to your house and using your test equipment and picking your brain and you probably will jump in the drivers seat and not let me play with your test equipment, and, and.... ... ... .

Aw the heck with it. Big bro, would you Pleeeeeeeeease fix my ballast for me:hail: :hail: :hail: :hail: :hail:

hehe.. se ya Saturday.


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## Troy McClure (Aug 3, 2005)

I'm really interested in how you will adjust the spotlights. It will be automated, right? I would love to be able to do that with LED moonlights. I'm also curious as to how you are going to finish the PVC. Spray paint?


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## bpimm (Jun 12, 2006)

Troy McClure said:


> I'm really interested in how you will adjust the spotlights. It will be automated, right? I would love to be able to do that with LED moonlights. I'm also curious as to how you are going to finish the PVC. Spray paint?


The Halogen spot lights are 12 Volt DC so I will just ramp up the voltage and then trigger the main lights to turn on. it will be triggered off of a standard timer. I haven't got to the specifics yet as other projects are eating up my time right now. as for the finish I am planning to use a gloss black automotive paint for a nice shiny finish.

Brian


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## Troy McClure (Aug 3, 2005)

Why automotive paint? Durability, adherance, magic?

I'm thinking about following in your footsteps for a similar smaller-scale project to house the lighting in a future ADA tank. What did you use to glue the PVC pieces together, was it the standard pipe joint glue?

A question about heat - If you're able to re-shape the PVC pipe in the oven at 190*, would heat from lights cause any problems if the fixture wasn't vented? I ask because I'd like to use the thinnest PVC possible (due to scale) and not vent the fixture, but then again, I'd only be using a few 13W PC bulbs.


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## bpimm (Jun 12, 2006)

Troy McClure said:


> Why automotive paint? Durability, adherance, magic?
> 
> I'm thinking about following in your footsteps for a similar smaller-scale project to house the lighting in a future ADA tank. What did you use to glue the PVC pieces together, was it the standard pipe joint glue?
> 
> A question about heat - If you're able to re-shape the PVC pipe in the oven at 190*, would heat from lights cause any problems if the fixture wasn't vented? I ask because I'd like to use the thinnest PVC possible (due to scale) and not vent the fixture, but then again, I'd only be using a few 13W PC bulbs.


I use the automotive paint because it is a good quality easy working enamel, I'm not using the fancy base-coat clear-coat systems just the plain acrylic enamel. I have had bad results with the other types of paint that are available in the last few years, they don't cure out fast enough and run horribly or just don't work the way I like, so as long as I can get acrylic enamel I will continue to use it.

Yes I just use the standard PVC cement for all the tight joints, if you need a gap filling glue try Duro's plastic epoxy.

The heat issue shouldn't be a problem, the lights can't heat the entire hood to 190 degrees. The thinnest PVC pipe is the 3 or 4" PVC drain pipe, it's white and about 3/16" wall thickness and is available at home centers. there is also a drain pipe that is white outside and black inside this is a different material and I haven't tried using it for anything other that it's intended use, and it didn't work well for that.

Good luck and keep us posted.
Brian


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## harrishawk (Sep 28, 2006)

Must say this is quite a amazing project many great ideas i will most likly us later.


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## thebigdog (Jan 28, 2008)

*Outstanding plans & development*


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