Thanks for the kind words and following along -
The round holes are for ventilation. I'll put fans up top if it gets too warm in there - better yet - it they made a little thermostat to kick them on .. hmmmmmm
I've taken the cabinet apart to work on painting and laminating the parts. The interior will remain bare wood. There are many edges where painting them flat black has the potential to cover up any mistakes. I'm going to laminate the back panels, but there really is no need to do edge banding on them.. Those edges get paint. I'm painting the side panel edges black so that if the T-Track has any small gaps, they will be black like the side panels. I also painted the inside of the speaker and fan openings. The bottom of the control panel box got black paint.
The drawer and coin door get edge banding - since they are most likely to be seen opened. I started with the panel sides and will do the top and bottom once the sides are trimmed. A trim router in a necessity for this type of work.
My side panels can be fit together to conserve materials. Use a 1" (or so) block and trace around the panels on the back of the laminate.
Now the tough part - I tried cutting the material using a jig saw using the gap between the benches. One side fell, tore and that was that. I tried to cut the other side and had another sawing mistake and essentially ruined the entire sheet of laminate. So much for conserving material. There is enough left that I can use it for one of the large panels, etc.. But I will come up with a better way to do this without destroying the next sheet..
Bare wood is best with 2 coats of contact cement due to absorption. I put one on, let it dry 30 minutes, then add a second coat to the wood and a single coat on the laminate pieces and allow it to dry 30 minutes. Contact cement should be slightly tacky to the touch, like a PostIT note, not wet like glue. Its amazingly strong when lined up to stick to itself this way.
Once dry - you get one shot at attaching the laminate. Best to line up larger sheets on long sticks/dowels - then pull them out one at a time and stick the sheet in place. Use a J-roller to apply pressure to finish laminating the panel.
Here is part of the trimming process. Router table and flush trim bit to clean up all of the overhang and openings. It makes quite the mess. The contact cement gums up the bearing on the router bit and clumps end up on the edge you are trying to cut. You end up making a rough first pass - cleaning everything away - cleaning the edge and bit with acetone and then making a finish pass.
Inside the speaker opening, inside edge painted black.
Speaker panel all trimmed and cleaned up. My build has lots of panels and edges.
Here most of the work is done. I have to do the sides and one more back panel. Then the cabinet can go back together.
Laminating all of these parts isn't particularly difficult - it is time consuming.. I have 10-15 hours into it with more to go. Probably still a better look than just paint.