My Mini Statements build thread

[FroDaddy]

Having finished the front LCR speakers with the full size Statements and the 2rCC modified Statement center channel, it's time to start building DIY surround speakers for my 7.1 system.

Four Mini Statements will be built with modified cabinets. Also instead of building bases, I'm building stands for them. The finish on the cabinets will be like my Statement towers as in the picture below, but instead of doing glossy black by hand I'm going to use a glossy black laminate as described in this thread. Just a fair warning; I'm building these at my leisure so it's going to be a slow process! 8)



I purchased all of the parts needed to build these last year around this time. Also around this time last year the wood for the minis cut using a huge table saw that I was fortunate enough to have access to. Each cut was done after setting the fence one time per side, so identical pieces were cut. The birch sides were cut slightly oversized so they can be flush trimmed to make things appear straight.



The spec'd height for the Mini Statements is 39", but my cabinets will be 28.5" tall. And the spec'd depth of the Mini Statements is 13.75", but mine will be the same depth as the Monitor Statements at 12". This makes the modified cabinet volume almost identical to the Mini Statement Center's cabinet volume. I'm going to try them ported, but I'm not going to rule out stuffing the port to go sealed if there are any placement issues. They will be crossed over at 80Hz, so I'm not worried about bass extension below 50Hz. Some Google Sketchups are below; note that the driver spacing isn't accurate but everything else is:

[john trials]

You are going to have one NICE sounding system!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[FroDaddy]

Building the stands first

EDIT: I was originally going to build DIY "flexy stands" for these speakers, but I have changed the plans. I still have pictures attached to this post that were part of the old plans, but refer to post Private Messages for a sketchup of the new style

[FroDaddy]

You are going to have one NICE sounding system!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks, I'm enjoying the LCR so the mini surrounds will round out the system. The goal when I planned all of this out last year was to have a complete system that I could consider "done" and not want anything else for 5-10 years... or more!

After all this time I still can't decide whether to port these out the back or the bottom, though :stupid:

[FroDaddy]

Port location and tune

I've made a decision to port the cabinets out the bottom. That way if there are weird room interactions I can stuff the ports and go sealed; and the stuffed ports would be hidden from view.

EDIT: I was looking at a different cabinet tune than the Mini Statement Center's 2.5x7" port, but I think I just talked myself out of that again. Sorry to those who read my long post before the edit :rofl:

EDIT2: And again I changed things... I have decided to go sealed on these due to changing the stand. If I don't like that, I can still port them out the back behind the tweeter. Modeling the sealed cabinets in winISD looks good

[BeerParty]

Having finished the front LCR speakers with the full size Statements and the 2rCC modified Statement center channel...

I just wanted to let you know that you have been an evil influence on me... I have decided to cut out the 3/4" round-over on the front of my Statement Monitors so I can make the front baffle look like your Statements. ;x(

Now I just need to figure out how to make a pair of stands that will match your base... :twisted:

[FroDaddy]

I just wanted to let you know that you have been an evil influence on me... I have decided to cut out the 3/4" round-over on the front of my Statement Monitors so I can make the front baffle look like your Statements. ;x(

Now I just need to figure out how to make a pair of stands that will match your base... :twisted:

Sweet! I hate to cause you extra work though!

I didn't know if you saw my post on the laminate: https://www.htguide.com/forum/showthread.php?t=33523
Posts 4&5 mention the bases on the Statement towers. Let me know if it helps or confuses the issue more

p.s. The stands I'm building for the minis won't have the inlay, they will be the much more simple stain+poly finish. The mini cabinets will look like the Statement towers though (minus the base of course).

[FroDaddy]

Been a while on this one! I'm planning to build these in a couple of months, for real this time

I changed the design up some, and I need some opinions on the stands. I decided to go with an integrated stand so let me know which one you like better. I've included a big Statement for a size comparison, and all dimensions are exactly the same in both pictures:

All wood:



Black Front:


Thanks

[john trials]

I vote for the All Wood version (but would it look good if you made the base look just like your Statements, with a wide black area and wood sides, and leave the vertical portion all wood?)

Also, isn't the tweeter going to be too high?

[FroDaddy]

I vote for the All Wood version (but would it look good if you made the base look just like your Statements, with a wide black area and wood sides, and leave the vertical portion all wood?)

Also, isn't the tweeter going to be too high?

These are going to be surround speakers which is why the stand is so high.

Here is the black inlay pic:


Also for cosmetics, since they will be surround speakers they will be a distance away from the towers, so in my mind perhaps matching the Statements to the letter might not be necessary?

[john trials]

Also for cosmetics, since they will be surround speakers they will be a distance away from the towers, so in my mind perhaps matching the Statements to the letter might not be necessary?

I am thinking the same thing...I'm currently building Statement Monitors for surrounds. My Statements are cherry veneer with pure tung oil. They are darker than I wanted. I'm thinking of veneering my Monitors with maple, or some other light wood, but I'm not sure how they will look, being so different from the Statements and CC.

I really like that last picture with the black inlay on the base, but you are correct...they will not be side by side, so it may not matter. Plus you should build what you like, not what others like!

I'm new to the surround sound stuff. I'm a 2 channel listener (I've never even heard a 5.1 system). From what I've read, the surround speakers are mainly for diffuse, ambient sounds (rain, wind, etc.), correct? I will experiment with placement and aim (I read in one book that pointing the rear speakers at the ceiling is good if you don't use bipole or dipole speakers), and I'll have to build some permanent stands once I figure it all out. Any tips?

[FroDaddy]

I am thinking the same thing...I'm currently building Statement Monitors for surrounds. My Statements are cherry veneer with pure tung oil. They are darker than I wanted. I'm thinking of veneering my Monitors with maple, or some other light wood, but I'm not sure how they will look, being so different from the Statements and CC.

I really like that last picture with the black inlay on the base, but you are correct...they will not be side by side, so it may not matter. Plus you should build what you like, not what others like!

I'm new to the surround sound stuff. I'm a 2 channel listener (I've never even heard a 5.1 system). From what I've read, the surround speakers are mainly for diffuse, ambient sounds (rain, wind, etc.), correct? I will experiment with placement and aim (I read in one book that pointing the rear speakers at the ceiling is good if you don't use bipole or dipole speakers), and I'll have to build some permanent stands once I figure it all out. Any tips?

Last night I didn't like the black inlay with the stand, but it's my favorite right now too. Problem is that it's the hardest one to make out of the bunch!

I can only offer my opinion on surround effects, but I'm not a fan of bipole/dipole. Most installs use direct source, so I believe the sound engineers encode for this. Soundtracks range from ambiance and direct pans, so I personally wouldn't classify surrounds as just being ambiance.

I prefer Dolby's 7.1 recommendations which IIRC is about 95deg for L/R surrounds and 120deg for L/R back surrounds. I messed around with different combinations, but the closer I moved the surrounds to their recommended specs the better it sounded. I don't think this is a coincidence as the sound engineers probably encode to these standards?

I would absolutely mount these up high in my HT room if I could! But that's not possible for me, so I believe Dolby says to keep the tweeter 18in+ above seated ear height and use speakers with a good vertical lobe. The Statements seem to have a good vertical lobe, but I might toy with a degree or two of downward aim as well.

[looneybomber]

Ohh, the all wood with black inlay looks nice!

[BeerParty]

You know, if you don't want floor standers you could just go with the Statement Monitors. I can assure you that they are loud and clear. Since you cut the parts using the monitor width and depth your materials are ready.

And, they look great with your baffle design:

[FroDaddy]

Oh the wood is already cut and all parts at home, so I'm committed now. Besides it's the room that limits me mounting these up high... 28.5in tall cabinets wouldn't look good mounted in my living room (One side of the room is open to the kitchen)

[BeerParty]

Oh the wood is already cut and all parts at home, so I'm committed now. Besides it's the room that limits me mounting these up high... 28.5in tall cabinets wouldn't look good mounted in my living room (One side of the room is open to the kitchen)

I am confused, what is your plan? The way you have re-designed them you are building 28.5" tall cabinets, then you say that they will not look good in your room?

[evilskillit]

FWIW you can easily cut the lumber for a pair of mini statements down to a pair of statement monitors (I would know). Not trying to change your mind or anything. I'm just saying.

[FroDaddy]

I am confused, what is your plan? The way you have re-designed them you are building 28.5" tall cabinets, then you say that they will not look good in your room?

The plan is set from the first 2 posts with the only change being in the design of the stands; I have no interest in Statement Monitors. These Mini's will replace my existing 4 floorstanding surround speakers.

I physically can't mount these up high because one side of the living room is open to the kitchen. For cosmetics, the way the room is configured the floorstanders tuck nicely next to other objects. So even if I could mount speakers on the wall they would protrude more than floorstanders.

[BeerParty]

Oh the wood is already cut and all parts at home, so I'm committed now. Besides it's the room that limits me mounting these up high... 28.5in tall cabinets wouldn't look good mounted in my living room (One side of the room is open to the kitchen)

I am confused, what is your plan? The way you have re-designed them you are building 28.5" tall cabinets, then you say that they will not look good in your room?

The plan is set from the first 2 posts with the only change being in the design of the stands; I have no interest in Statement Monitors. These Mini's will replace my existing 4 floorstanding surround speakers.

I physically can't mount these up high because one side of the living room is open to the kitchen. For cosmetics, the way the room is configured the floorstanders tuck nicely next to other objects. So even if I could mount speakers on the wall they would protrude more than floorstanders.

OK, I think I got it now - when you said "28.5in tall cabinets wouldn't look good mounted in my living room", you meant that they (or any other speaker) wouldn't look good mounted to the ceiling or on a wall. I wasn't thinking about wall or ceiling mounting since the Statements need open space in back. I was just thinking that since you were shrinking the Minis to almost the same size as the Monitors and putting them on stands, why wouldn't you just build the Monitors and put them on stands? But, you are modifying the Minis and putting them on stands because you are not interested in building the Monitors. Did I get it right?

[FroDaddy]

correct :T

[FroDaddy]

Good thing I'm double checking my parts inventory because I just found out I'm short on 2" wedge foam!

Also just a tidbit, I'm going to have to start building these earlier than when my planned vacation was going to start. I found out that I wouldn't have enough time to finish these by the end of the vacation if I didn't start soon. So I'll probably have some updates coming up sooner than expected

[FroDaddy]

I tested the height of both the birch edge rim and the mica when glued to a test piece, and they were nearly identical. So what this means is I can flush trim the raw birch sides to the raw assembled MDF center sections. THEN I can apply the mica to the center sections and the edge trim to the sides. This is a huge time saver since I thought the heights were mismatched.

Also I kicked off assembly today with gluing the tunnels together:

[FroDaddy]

I have most of the top, bottom, and tunnels glued to the back pieces of MDF. As stated in the first post, when the wood was cut I only adjusted the fence one time per side so the end result were identical pieces of wood. This has made assembly much easier!

To assemble the top and bottom pieces I applied Titebond 3 to the small piece's edge, applied it to the back piece, and lined it up. I would let it sit for a minute to allow the glue to get just a tiny bit tacky, and then clamp with traditional clamps (no corner clamps). Not sure if this is a good/bad way to do this, but it's how I've done it all along so it's good for me One of the small pieces didn't set correctly because I didn't apply enough glue, so I'm having to redo that one. That sums up the top and bottom piece assembly.

To know where to glue the tunnels took a few steps. First I took a front piece of MDF and drew the speaker array using a drawing compass for the circles. From top to bottom I needed to center the array, so after a couple of iterations of drawing I raised the array 3/8" since my cabinets are 28.5" tall. Now there will be equal space from the top to the tweeter, and from the bottom to the woofer.

Second step was to move the tunnel and bracing up 3/8", so I drew the new measurement guidelines directly onto the front speaker array drawing I just did. Then I physically placed a tunnel on it, and perfectly saw the midrange circle inside. Testing the bracing measurement was accurate, too.

Third step was to transfer the tunnel and bracing guideline mesaurements to the assembly I was working on. Now I could glue the tunnels into place since I knew where to place them. Here is a closeup of the tunnel/brace guidelines. The bottom cabinet has the guidelines, and the one above it has a tunnel glued on. (Note the flat side of MDF on the tunnels is facing outward to make the small side braces easier to assemble later.)



Here is a picture of work done so far, and you'll see some REALLY old cast iron window weights my Dad had salvaged. They are about 10.5lbs each, so it was easier to apply pressure with weights instead of using clamps. :T

[mischmat]

I'm debating on screwing my set together. I don't have clamps and don't have the funds to purchase them. Little extra time and materials but all I have is time.

[numberoneoppa]

I'm debating on screwing my set together. I don't have clamps and don't have the funds to purchase them. Little extra time and materials but all I have is time.

Buy more clamps. Really, they're 9 dollars each... I'm sure you can afford a few if you cut back on meals.

[FroDaddy]

I'm debating on screwing my set together. I don't have clamps and don't have the funds to purchase them. Little extra time and materials but all I have is time.

Some people use a brad nailer, and I've even seen someone use panelboard nails (I wouldn't use them though). The Harbor Freight clamps I'm using cost me around $5 each, so it kept misc costs down some. These don't have the clamping force of expensive clamps, but really the glue is doing the work so these clamps just keep things in place until the glue forms up.

[mischmat]

Buy more clamps. Really, they're 9 dollars each... I'm sure you can afford a few if you cut back on meals.

Where you find them at that price? All the stores around here are selling them for $35 for 36" clamps. Searched ebay but the set I found won't ship internationall since i'm in Canada and the store's in the US.

[john trials]

Where you find them at that price? All the stores around here are selling them for $35 for 36" clamps. Searched ebay but the set I found won't ship internationall since i'm in Canada and the store's in the US.

These clamp with a lot of pressure. The threads are not too smooth, but I'm building my 8th speaker with them, and they're fine. You probably don't need more than 24" long, but double check your speaker design first. http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=96213

Don't get the Harbor Freight rachet bar clamps (http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...mnumber=46809). They are pretty poor. I bought some and they don't work very well.

Harbor Freight constantly has sales, so you can wait if you want to save some $.

[dar47]

Where you find them at that price? All the stores around here are selling them for $35 for 36" clamps. Searched ebay but the set I found won't ship internationall since i'm in Canada and the store's in the US.

Ya we seem to have to pay double for everything. As your starting out collecting tools you can have all your pieces cut out and then rent a nailer and compressor for a few hours. This is where I get my clamps.

http://www.princessauto.com/tools/hand-tools/clamps/2910350-30-adjustable-bar-clamp

[FroDaddy]

Be careful when using bar clamps directly to your good pieces of wood; you'll crush or dent your pieces quite easily if you don't protect them first.

I've built all my speakers using Harbor Freight ratchet bar clamps, and I make up for their lack of clamping pressure by using more of them. I like the super quick setup time ratchet clamps provide due to their built in rubber pads, but agreed quality is poor with the Harbor Freights. I actually hate using bar clamps, so that's why I'm dealing with the Harbor Freights. They are on sale right now for about $5, and you get what you pay for!

[numberoneoppa]

Home depot standard issue bar clamps. They work great. You can get little rubber things for them so you don't damage the surface, too!

[mischmat]

Now that I've hijacked the thread for clamps. I'll give a few of those links a go. Downside of living in an area that you need to take a ferry to get to. Upside it's very beautiful. Thanks guys

[FroDaddy]

Bad choice of words in my previous post, it reads as though the rubber protectors on ratchet clamps is the only thing that protects from crush dents. In my experience a traditional bar clamp will crush dent wood due to their smaller head when compared to the larger head of a ratchet clamp. Nobody should ever use a metal clamp directly on a finished piece no matter who you are. I never meant to imply that.

So when I use bar clamps I have to mdf scraps to protect the wood from crush dents. So, for me, using a ratchet clamp is a no brainer. That's all I meant.

I'm feeling the need to post up a disclaimer... I created this thread and I am updating it with the way that I am building these. It's not meant to be a de-facto, perfect, or expert way to do this. I learned how to build speakers from reading DIY build threads and family/friends, and I'm hoping this thread could help someone out like the other DIY threads helped me. (It also doubles as a cool digital scrapbook to save on my hard drive!) I recommend to ALWAYS gather information from multiple sources and use methods that work best for you.

Anyway, so tomorrow I'll laminate the front baffles and probaby snap a few pix. Saturday the plan is to flush trim the baffles, then use every clamp in my dad's workshop to glue them into place. That means using ratchet, BAR, and PIPE clamps... oh my! :twisted:

[FroDaddy]

I got ahead of myself with the build. I forgot to notch the mid tunnels to clear the tweeter, so I used a Rigid JobMax multitool to carve the notches out since the tunnels were already glued in. So now the top, bottom, window brace (did this a couple of days ago), and notched tunnels are glued to the rear baffle:




Also I need attach the black laminate to the front baffles, route the driver holes, then open up the back of the speaker cutouts before gluing the baffles to the cabinet. So yesterday I laminated the front baffle MDF pieces together, and today I flush trimmed them. I cut the black laminate oversized and glued them to the front baffles. (Detail about the material and methods are here: https://www.htguide.com/forum/showthread.php?t=33523 )

I sandwiched the baffles together and applied weight to keep some pressure while the glue does it's job:

[FroDaddy]

Hey guys just a quick update today. I had to make a parts run, and among other things I picked up a Harbor Freight trim router and some good bits from Lowes. I did some research online before buying the trim router, and overall I thought it was worth the $25 to try it out. Here's the trim router with painters tape on it:



Overall the router does a good job for laminate trimming. This isn't an industrial piece because it gets hot after a few passes, doesn't have a lot of grunt, and I had to crank the collet to grip the bit shank down. But I'm definitely happy I bought one; for $25 it does exactly what I want it to do which is trim laminate! (Before this I was using a large Rigid router to do laminate trim. :E )

During the trimming I applied painters tape to the surface of the black laminate protector since too much material buildup was happening. So after the trimming I measured out and drilled the pilot holes for the speaker cutouts. This took me a while since I have a slight case of OCD when it comes to measuring things out:



And an absolute must is to protect the surface of the black laminate from the large router while routing the driver cutouts. As with the 2rCC, I put two layers of both painters paper and tape for protection. Doubling up the protection was a life saver on the 2rCC since the wood buildup tore off the top layer. If I didn't have it doubled up it would have absolutely been a disaster and went through the laminate protection to scratch the glossy black laminate. Here's what they look like after they are all taped up:



So now comes one of my least favorite parts of speaker building: routing driver holes! Progress will be a bit slower since I'll only have a few hours after work to complete the process. I'm trying to complete one baffle per day during the week, so with good luck maybe by Thursday they'll all be finished. 8)

[FroDaddy]

During the week I finished making the front baffles. I cut the recesses, holes, the chamfer on the back side for the woofers, then glued the baffles on. Even though I double taped and papered the front, I still had to apply some tape during the routing as needed.

Here is a pic after the tape/paper was removed. (Note that I left the film on the black laminate so it would have some protection while working on the cabinets.):



Here is another pic... these things are very sturdy!



Ok I'm done with my lunch break, time to flush trim and chamfer the sides :T

[john trials]

Nice! That's going to be one serious sound system!

[FroDaddy]

Phew that took longer than I thought it would. It looks like a stack of wood, but they're sized to the cabinets and labeled:



Then this one took a better picture, but between cutting the black laminate and gluing it only took about 1hr total. This is the rear black laminate glued, stacked, and weighted down (don't sneeze!):

[mischmat]

Coming along very nicely.

Have you ordered the XO parts yet? I'm starting to get some parts and noticed that erse is out of a few parts. I'm not sure what would be a viable equivalent to the ELC54-18-4700, EWR25-05-4.0/PB, and EAC14-20-820 with as they are out of stock, and I'm new to the home DIY.

Any suggestions?

[KnightsOfNi]

I had the same problem with Erse out of stock
Parts Express has a 4.7 iron core with a similar DCR (4.3 vs 4.41)

http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=266-566

I replaced all the resistors with Mills from Parts Express, they are more money but not that expensive.
The inductor EAC14-20-820 I replaced with

http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=255-044

It is 0.80 not 0.82 mh however that is what was originally speced
Regards
Knights

[FroDaddy]

mischmat, I ordered crossover parts a long time ago so if I were shopping today I'd follow KnightsOfNi's suggestion.

[FroDaddy]

I put in a lot of hours on this project yesterday! First up was flush trimming the rear black laminate to the cabinet center sections:



Then I glued the top and bottom black laminate to the cabinets:



Then it was time for a parts run. Among other shop materials I bought Lowes birch that will be used to make the speaker stands, and playsand for some weight. After that it was all about laying down a coat of stain on the sides.

(One thing I left out from a previous post was the previous day I went over the raw wood with a good eraser to remove dirt trapped in the grain. I'm not sure if there was a better way to remove the dirt in the woodworking world, but it worked like a charm.)

So getting back to the work done yesterday, it took a few hours to apply Woodcraft birch edge veneering to the 8 cabinet sides. The veneering was pre-glued, so it was ready to be ironed on. After applying heat I applied pressure with a spare piece of birch. Finally I used a combination of a knife and a plastic edge banding trimmer to get things even. My Dad wanted to get involved (I'm building these in his workshop), so after I would finish a piece he would sand it down with 320 grit. That saved a lot of time for me, but I still greatly underestimated how long it would take to use my method to apply the stain.

What I did on my large Statements was first wipe down all pieces to be stained with a damp cloth to remove sanding dust. Then after all pieces are done, I applied a light coat of Minwax prestain. Directions say to let sit 5-10 minutes then wipe off, so I did that and applied a 2nd application of the prestain. While doing this it is cleaning the wood and it was dislodging leftover glue from the edge banding that didn't come off from sanding. As with the large Statements, I applied a 3rd application and the Lowes birch just seems to "pop" after the 3rd one. When wiping off the excess I'm applying pressure to bring out more character in the grain. I don't recommend applying this much prestain on the edge veneering because the glue gets too wet and can separate in a few areas. I had forgotten this detail from my other builds, so I'm having to deal with it now.

Now that the wood is prepped, I used Minwax Red Mahogany using a "wipe on, wipe off" method. The red mahogany is a DARK stain so what I'm doing is distributing the stain on the surface, and immediately using stain cloths to wipe it off. Although there is a time restriction, there is a lot of control with the application. After the initial wipe off, if you want a lighter section just rub it more with the cloth; and a darker one just don't rub it as much. I'm doing a bit of rubbing to bring out more character in the wood, and the pre-stain prevents the stain from instantly soaking into the surface immediately. (With a raw, non-prestained test piece the only real control I had was with the first brush-on.) The edge veneer needed a couple of minutes of soaking before the wipe-off, but the prestain allows control here too. Not sure if this is known rules for woodworking 101, but I figured I could type that out quickly enough.

The stain process was very time consuming, but I like the finish on my big Statements so I'm repeating it. I snapped a pic before crashing:



The plan was to get a coat of poly on tonight, but it rained here so the stain didn't dry completely due to the humidity in the workshop and amount of prestain/stain applied. Hopefully tomorrow progress can continue!

[KnightsOfNi]

Awesome job Fro you are just flying.
My build has slowed right down because of the baffles.
However this weekend is a LONG weekend, right :T
Enjoying watching your progress
Regards
Knights

[FroDaddy]

Hey keep at it KnightsOfNi! If building speakers were easy and quick, everyone would be doing it

So since the last post, the stain dried up so the next step was to sand the sides down (600 grit was used). Then I rubbed mineral spirits to remove the sanding dust, and prep the stain. I put a lot of pressure when rubbing because it adds more character to the wood.

Then it was time to apply the poly, so I bought a new 3" brush and used the Minwax fast drying oil based poly. I spread it on the surface, then allowed the weight of the brush to smooth it out evenly. I was also using a slow stroke so not to leave many air bubbles.

After drying a day, a light sand with 600 grit and a quick wipe with mineral spirits was all the prep work needed. (No rubbing with this step because the poly already sealed the stain.) Since this was my last coat of poly, I was extra careful. I did my best to distribute the material evenly, and then used a really slow stroke this time to avoid air bubbles.

I let it dry overnight, and damned if a mosquito tried a Jurassic Park on one of the sides! He was still gooey, so after removing him I wiped it with mineral spirits and I can't find the spot anymore.



Today I used my Harbor Freight trim router again. This time it was used to trim the top and bottom black laminate from the center sections. I used a 1/4 flush trim bit on the sides, so the bearing is riding on the MDF. I don't have a picture of this, but I clamped a 3/4in scrap piece to the front/back. So what happens is the bearing is riding on the MDF, and when it approaches the edges, it transitions to the 3/4in pieces that are clamped on. This way it protects the front/back laminate from damage, and gives a strait cut.
Now for the front/back, I used a 1/4in 45deg chamfer bit in the Harbor Freight trim router. (I used a 45deg cut on my 2rCC as well, but wow this was SO MUCH easier using the trim router!) Since the bearing would be riding on the black laminate finish, I simply taped a spare piece of laminate for protection on each cut. I got the depth correct, locked it down, and went to work.
I wanted to mention again that I used painter's tape on the bottom of the trim router, and also I taped the surface it rides on as well. Occasionally debris will get hung up and strip off the painters tape off. Underneath that is the plastic protection that comes on the black laminate, but if the tape wasn't there, it goes through the protection that comes on the black laminate and scratches the finish.

Next up was prepping the center sections to glue the sides on. My process is I use black paint around the MDF edges, place the side on, then trim more if necessary. The idea here is sometimes there is a small gap after assembly, and the black trim hides the cream MDF color. I have a picture of a center section below. Notice the bracing is glued to the tunnel, and also notice this one is labeled "4L". There is a birch side that has the same label that will be glued on here:



Next up was removing the poly boogers from the backside of the sides, and gluing a side on. I managed to get one side on two cabinets, but I stopped here and will continue tomorrow.

[bheinauer]

Maybe I missed the step, but in the previous photos the baffle and side had 90 degree edges, but in the latest picture the baffle appears to have a bevel and been veneered. Did you route right through the laminate on the baffle to get the bevel then apply a strip of veneer?