# Audiophile audio rack



## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

Starting a new project for a serious audiophile with some serious equipment. His McIntosh amp alone weighs 125 lbs.! The dimensions alone make this rack impressive; everything is 8/4 and the shelves are 23" deep, 52" wide, and the unit is 31" high. Each shelf will weigh about 70 lbs. 

The top shelf is Curly Maple and the middle and bottom shelves are Northern Hard Rock Maple. These will be banded with Curly Maple so from the front you'll see Curly Maple shelves. But since the middle and bottom shelves will be covered with gear there was no need for these to be the much more expensive Curly Maple.

The legs are about 2" x 3" and are Purpleheart. I'll finish the piece in Nitrocellulose lacquer. 

While there's no rush on completing this piece I do want to stay on it as much as possible but as other orders come in I'll put this aside. For instance, we got two separate orders for 18" Longworth chucks today so I'll move all of this out and cut the chucks tomorrow, then move all of this back in to begin planing and jointing shelves. 

When the shelves are glued I'll take them to my friend's cabinet shop and run them through their wide belt sander. Our SuperMax 19-38 will work but it will be so much easier to do it on their wide belt sander.

As you can see, just the lumber alone overwhelms our little shop and when it comes to assembling this I'll have to do it in the house because I don't have room in the shop to put it together. 😉

Preliminary design -









One shelf, basically, prior to jointing -









All the lumber for the project -









Curly Maple close up shots -


















More photos and updates as I work through this project. Enjoy!
David


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## RainMan 2.0 (May 6, 2014)

The Curly Maple looks beautiful . This is one of my favourite subjects , so I’m looking forward to seeing the outcome.

This guy does something very similar , and I was going to copy his construction techniques 

https://www.timbernation.com/


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## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

That's actually one of the websites he showed me for a sample, Rick. But nobody wanted to make one as large as this, at least not for a price that makes sense. It's also not that easy to find 8/4 Curly Maple longer than 48", either. I bought this from Kevin at Curly Maple Wood which is where I've bought all my Curly Maple forever, it seems.

David


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## RainMan 2.0 (May 6, 2014)

difalkner said:


> That's actually one of the websites he showed me for a sample, Rick. But nobody wanted to make one as large as this, at least not for a price that makes sense. It's also not that easy to find 8/4 Curly Maple longer than 48", either. I bought this from Kevin at Curly Maple Wood which is where I've bought all my Curly Maple forever, it seems.
> 
> David


You’d probably stroke out if you seen what it’s worth here


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## tooler2 (Aug 11, 2012)

It will be tricky avoiding it look clunky with those dimensions. Softening the corners may help but I would do a sample with cheap construction lumber to play with and have approved.
Rob


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## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

Every edge will be rounded or chamfered to some degree, Rob. Build a test piece out of construction lumber ain't happening, though! Two entirely different materials and unless someone wants the test piece afterward it would be a total waste of time and funds. Besides, I'm allergic to Pine so that's rarely ever in my shop. 

He showed me a photo and said, "I want one like this but bigger." That's all the approval I need.  

David


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## Danman1957 (Mar 14, 2009)

Wow nice project Dave,

I bookmarked the wood source and the other rack maker, inspiration for sure, but of course nice wood is EXPENSIVE !!!


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## roxanne562001 (Feb 5, 2012)

Nice shelf The McIntosh Amp will look great on there with those tubes glowing  had a friend that had one nothing sounds warmer than a good tube amp. I am sure he will love it.


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## TenGees (Sep 12, 2012)

Beautiful wood and interesting project. Looking forward to progress on this.


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## JFPNCM (Dec 13, 2009)

Great start and I look forward to further details as the project comes to fruition. 

Appreciate the lead on the curly maple.


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## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

It may not seem like much progress but I have now cut to length and planed all of the Hard Rock Maple, straight lined the edges of all boards on the tablesaw, and run every edge on the jointer. These boards are heavy and I'm worn out!! LOL!

Running the Curly Maple on the jointer was a bit iffy since I have straight blades but they are razor sharp and I took very light passes. The edges came out very clean with very minor tear out in a couple of places but they're in the middle of the edge so it's not going to be an issue. I considered getting a Shelix head for the jointer - PM 54A - but since this worked I'll do that upgrade later (maybe).

I have another project I need to move to this afternoon and that may prevent me from gluing these boards today to get the 23" width but they're ready for that step.















More later!
David


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## Oscar36 (Feb 23, 2019)

Making good progress. Lumber looks amazing and the project is going to have a ton of wow factor. The craftsmanship will of course shine.


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## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

Minor update on this audio rack; turns out the straight knives on my jointer were not giving me the clean edge I thought I was getting on the Curly Maple. When I moved the boards into different light and looked at them closer I saw the tear out in a few places. I made some changes and ran them again but with the same results.

So, today I ordered a Shelix cutterhead for my PM54A jointer. For now this project is waiting on the new cutterhead. I have wanted one for a while and never wanted to spend the money but this project is worthy of an equipment change. Besides, any project that requires the purchase of a new tool is a good project - right!!















David


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## RainMan 2.0 (May 6, 2014)

I’d love to change the head in my jointer and Planer to those heads also , but there ridiculously priced .
I had no idea conventional heads were that bad in this application.


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## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

RainMan 2.0 said:


> I’d love to change the head in my jointer and Planer to those heads also l but ridiculously priced .
> I had no idea conventional heads were that bad in this application.


If I hadn't moved the boards into a different room or looked at them closely I would've thought they were good (they're in the house for now :grin. The areas I looked at were good but I didn't look at all edges.

About $400 for the head, bearings, 10 extra cutters, and shipping. I'm sure it's going to be worth it but I'm also very reluctant to spend money. :wink:

David


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## honesttjohn (Feb 17, 2015)

Besides, any project that requires the purchase of a new tool is a good project - right!!

Yes it is!!!!!!

About $400 for the head, bearings, 10 extra cutters, and shipping. I'm sure it's going to be worth it but I'm also very reluctant to spend money.

It could be $40 and you'd complain David!! I'm the same way. But I'm sure you'll love it when it all comes together.


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## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

honesttjohn said:


> It could be $40 and you'd complain David!! I'm the same way. But I'm sure you'll love it when it all comes together.


Haha! You've been talking to my kids, right? 

I got an email about the order this afternoon and they're back ordered - ugh! They said it could be 3-4 weeks. So I guess I'll work on something else for a while... :frown:

David


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## Bob Adams (Jul 5, 2014)

Have you already paid for cutter head? Grizzly has them in stock. https://www.grizzly.com/products/Byrd-Tool-6-Shelix-Cutterhead/H7764


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## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

Bob Adams said:


> Have you already paid for cutter head? Grizzly has them in stock. https://www.grizzly.com/products/Byrd-Tool-6-Shelix-Cutterhead/H7764


Unfortunately, yes, I paid for it yesterday. It never occurred to me to check with Grizzly or that this cutterhead fit other machines. Oh, well, live and learn I guess.

David


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## vkbellis (Aug 1, 2020)

+1 Echo: Great looking wood! And a wonderful project for showcasing it and your skills.

FYI & FWIW - I was doing some searches for wood identification not too long ago, and came across this _excellent_ resource for discussions about wood species identification, which also offers peer to peer wood sales https://woodbarter.com/, noting that I have no experience actually buying wood from anybody on that forum, just that most of the wood that I seen there is quite beautiful. Prices? Sorry, I don't have any sense of them being high, reasonable, or otherwise.


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## Danman1957 (Mar 14, 2009)

In similar audio equipment work, my son has asked me to build something similar to this, BUT, with the electric adjustable desk legs I recently assembled for him, I thought he only wanted a desk top, he said that this is a desk top !!!

https://zaorstudiofurniture.com/product/miza-x2/

So I bought a sheet of 1/4'' Luan to make a design and template but I don't like the angles I cut so it's back to the drawing board !


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## RainMan 2.0 (May 6, 2014)

Danman1957 said:


> In similar audio equipment work, my son has asked me to build something similar to this, BUT, with the electric adjustable desk legs I recently assembled for him, I thought he only wanted a desk top, he said that this is a desk top !!!
> 
> https://zaorstudiofurniture.com/product/miza-x2/
> 
> So I bought a sheet of 1/4'' Luan to make a design and template but I don't like the angles I cut so it's back to the drawing board !


Dan I want to build a corner computer desk and need three legs that are powered so I can adjust the height .
May I ask what your using ?


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## Danman1957 (Mar 14, 2009)

Rick,

This set up is by Prime Cables and the same thing is offered by V Ryzer. Please beware that there are 2 corner models available, the one we have is a ''V'' and there is also an ''L'' I saw on the web site. I wish my son would have gotten the ''L'' shape it would be easier to work with a 90 degree angle rather than whatever we have. Trying to fit the top he wants is a head scratcher for sure. The 3 leg models are quite capable and can lift 340 lbs. The desk( picture I posted) is over $3000 to buy and only made from melamine ! Because of the span between the legs I want to use 1'' thick MDF or hardwood. The span on the "V'' shape legs from side to side is 88'' if I use 3/4'' I'm sure it will sag. The desk will be for his recording studio and will hold several electronic devices and there is a pull out slider in the design for a pretty big keyboard, my son's Yamaha keyboard is so big ! it weighs 70 lbs and is 54'' long, but that is just one of them !


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## RainMan 2.0 (May 6, 2014)

Danman1957 said:


> Rick,
> 
> This set up is by Prime Cables and the same thing is offered by V Ryzer. Please beware that there are 2 corner models available, the one we have is a ''V'' and there is also an ''L'' I saw on the web site. I wish my son would have gotten the ''L'' shape it would be easier to work with a 90 degree angle rather than whatever we have. Trying to fit the top he wants is a head scratcher for sure. The 3 leg models are quite capable and can lift 340 lbs. The desk( picture I posted) is over $3000 to buy and only made from melamine ! Because of the span between the legs I want to use 1'' thick MDF or hardwood. The span on the "V'' shape legs from side to side is 88'' if I use 3/4'' I'm sure it will sag. The desk will be for his recording studio and will hold several electronic devices and there is a pull out slider in the design for a pretty big keyboard, my son's Yamaha keyboard is so big ! it weighs 70 lbs and is 54'' long, but that is just one of them !


Thanks for the links .

This is going to be an epic build Dan. Can’t wait to see progress pics


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## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

Danman1957 said:


> ...my son's Yamaha keyboard is so big ! it weighs 70 lbs and is 54'' long, but that is just one of them !


Haha! That's about equal to one of these Maple shelves in the audio rack. They'll be 23" x 52" and weigh 70 lbs. each. 

That's a stout keyboard, for sure.

David


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## Danman1957 (Mar 14, 2009)

David,

Given your previous experience, do you think the 1'' MDF is strong enough to not sag, I am referring to the desk top only. The upper shelf and the body will all be 3/4'' MDF and everything will be covered in a wood grain style of laminate, probably Wenge or Walnut colors. TIA.

Dan


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## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

Danman1957 said:


> David,
> 
> Given your previous experience, do you think the 1'' MDF is strong enough to not sag, I am referring to the desk top only. The upper shelf and the body will all be 3/4'' MDF and everything will be covered in a wood grain style of laminate, probably Wenge or Walnut colors. TIA.
> 
> Dan


1" MDF is pretty stout material, so depending on the span between supports and where the weight is concentrated it should be fine. 

David


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## Bob Adams (Jul 5, 2014)

Danman1957 said:


> David,
> 
> Given your previous experience, do you think the 1'' MDF is strong enough to not sag, I am referring to the desk top only. The upper shelf and the body will all be 3/4'' MDF and everything will be covered in a wood grain style of laminate, probably Wenge or Walnut colors. TIA.
> 
> Dan


You can calculate sag with this https://www.woodbin.com/calcs/sagulator/
tool. It is my go to when I build shelves, counter tops etc..


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## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

Ok, I'm back on the audio rack after installing the Shelix cutterhead in my jointer over the weekend. Today I cleaned up the edges on the three Curly Maple boards, one pass each. Because I bought the cutterhead with bearings installed and 15 extra knives the cost with shipping was $400 and it took about five weeks to arrive (backordered). So that's about $67 per pass but wow do the edges look good! 😁

Here are the chipped edges -








And the edges I just cut today with the new Shelix cutterhead -








David


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## vkbellis (Aug 1, 2020)

@difalkner - You got to love that! What are using for the jointer?


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## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

vkbellis said:


> @difalkner - You got to love that! What are using for the jointer?


Yep - pretty nice, actually!

Powermatic 54a








David


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## vkbellis (Aug 1, 2020)

That's a nice one Dave. Maybe some day, most manufacturers will be offering the helix style head on their planers and jointers as standard equipment.


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## RainMan 2.0 (May 6, 2014)

vkbellis said:


> That's a nice one Dave. Maybe some day, most manufacturers will be offering the helix style head on their planers and jointers as standard equipment.


I’ve got a GI 6” jointer and would love to upgrade to those . I have a feeling the helix head is as much or more than I paid for the jointer though.

Dave , was there any setup , like alignment for the individual blades or anything?


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## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

RainMan 2.0 said:


> Dave , was there any setup , like alignment for the individual blades or anything?


No sir, Rick, pretty easy. Once I got the cutterhead in place I raised the outfeed table to the height of the knives and locked it down. First cut was perfect.

David


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## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

I may make a video of the entire build once this is complete, not sure, video production takes a while. 😉

Finally got to a point where I could begin joining the boards for the shelves and started with the Hard Rock Maple. I'll save the much more expensive Curly Maple for the last in case I learn something new when I join these boards. 

Because these are heavy and the edges so crisp they're sharp I decided to do one joint at a time rather than attempt gluing all three boards at once. That turned out to be a good move because doing just one joint is about all the open time I have for TB I, probably could have switched to TB III to get more open time but didn't want to do that.

I used biscuits for making certain everything stays aligned, not for strength, and it worked well for this application.





























David


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## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

Loaded the three shelves, two Hard Rock Maple and one Curly Maple, and headed 10 minutes away to my friend’s cabinet shop. They have a 24” spiral head planer and 36” wide belt sander.

It still took an hour to plane and sand these heavy boards but it would have taken days per board in my shop. 




























David


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## RainMan 2.0 (May 6, 2014)

difalkner said:


> Loaded the three shelves, two Hard Rock Maple and one Curly Maple, and headed 10 minutes away to my friend’s cabinet shop. They have a 24” spiral head planer and 36” wide belt sander.
> 
> It still took an hour to plane and sand these heavy boards but it would have taken days per board in my shop.
> 
> ...


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## RainMan 2.0 (May 6, 2014)

Nice having friends with better toys than you . A 24 planer would be awesome ev


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## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

10 minutes away and willing - best kind to have access to, my friend! 

David


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## Marco (Feb 21, 2009)

difalkner said:


> 10 minutes away and willing - best kind to have access to, my friend!
> 
> David


Beautiful Shelves


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## Danman1957 (Mar 14, 2009)

I haven't done much with my son's desk top but I did cut and install 1 '' thick MDF and it is not sagging. I will post more when something worth posting. For now we decided to just keep it geometrically simple, a rectangle 45'' x 97'', man is that stuff heavy !!!


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## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

It has been ages since I've posted about this project but it is now finished and delivered. There were many delays due to other contracts and jobs with hard deadlines so this got set aside many times (this one had no deadline). Even though it is completed and delivered I'll still post the steps to build and finished photos at the customer's house. And you're not going to believe how high-end his audio system is - amazing!

Laying out the Purpleheart legs for cutting on the CNC. I don't have a flat bottom blade for the table saw and since I have the CNC it just made sense to use that to ensure all the cuts were uniform. 








Here are the toolpath profiles for the cuts I made on the CNC - 
















And the setup on the CNC to prevent blowout when the bit cut through - 








Here are the five legs after cutting on the CNC and beveling the top and bottom surfaces on the table saw - 








More in a bit -


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## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

Test fit assembly - 








Drill press guide stand for drilling adjustable feet pockets - 








Drilling for adjustable feet - 








Legs ready for adjustable feet - 








Curly Maple edge on middle shelf - 








Testing for best leg location - 








Flip stands for spraying second side of shelves - you can see these in action here 








Threaded inserts in place - 








More later -


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## RainMan 2.0 (May 6, 2014)

Wow, looks fantastic Dave


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## Oscar36 (Feb 23, 2019)

That maple is still gorgeous. Oh and the woodcraft is only amazing.


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## jw2170 (Jan 24, 2008)

Great result....


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## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

Getting the threaded inserts into this really hard Maple proved to be very difficult. I couldn't use the tool they make but had to use a bolt with a couple of jam nuts and drove the inserts in with my air operated Ingersoll Rand 1/2" impact driver. I tried a ratchet, 3/8" impact driver, cordless drill, and none of them worked well at all. I did my tests in end grain Walnut for something similar knowing that the Maple was much harder and figured if I could make it work in the Walnut then I might have a chance in the Maple. Again, if you want to see video of this you can see it here on Instagram.

Here are all the tools I tried to use for the threaded inserts - 








Testing legs bolted to top shelf - 








Assembling the shelf for the first time (no room in the shop, have to use the kitchen) - 








I came up with a drying rack for storing the shelves after they were sprayed because I could no longer stand them on end once they had finish on them - 








Spraying the legs; I made no attempt to fill the pores because I preferred the look with pores showing - 








Spraying shelves - 








Spraying second side with flip stands in place - 








Spraying middle shelf - 








More to come -


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## RainMan 2.0 (May 6, 2014)

What a beautiful wood grain ! Great choice . Couldn’t imagine the price here . Probably in the thousands


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## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

Thanks, Rick! Yes, it is some gorgeous wood for certain. As for price, it was in the thousands here, as well, if that makes you feel any better.


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## old55 (Aug 11, 2013)

Absolutely brilliant David.


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## woodworker47 (Dec 19, 2008)

David,

This is a really beautiful shelf. Really enjoyed the pictures as you progressed through the project.


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## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

Thanks, Guys! It's been a fun project, albeit a bit lengthy due to delays.

Here are the shelves in the drying rack in my 'box room' where all my shipping supplies and photography gear resides. The drying rack allowed me a way to store the shelves for the finish to cure and yet take up very little room while being out of our way - 








The finished legs; I love the sapwood in that one leg! 








This is his audio room before the rack was assembled and I have to say it sounds simply amazing. His cables are pure silver and cost over a grand each! 








Finished Curly Maple top shelf, gorgeous curl in this! 
















The assembled rack and he chose to have the sapwood showing on the front right leg (that's what I was hoping for) - 
























He said it will take a couple of weeks for him to have time to get all the gear on the shelves and get it moved back into place. Assuming he takes a good enough photo I'll post it here.

Thanks for checking out this build!


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## Marco (Feb 21, 2009)

Great build and wood!

Please tell me he doesn't listen to Barry Manilow.....


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## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

Haha! I sure hope not. I think he listens to a lot of Christian music but also loves acoustic guitar music. He pulled up some acoustic guitar music while we were there and if you closed your eyes you would easily think the guitarist was sitting in the room with you. Beautiful sound!


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## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

As promised, here are a couple of photos of the completed audio rack with gear in place -


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## old55 (Aug 11, 2013)

Looks like it was made for the task, David.


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## RainMan 2.0 (May 6, 2014)

Amazing work as always David .


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