Tomorrow is when I will hopefully be putting together the main cabinet shape. While my sketchup plan has ledgers holding the sides on, I have been thinking about it and I think instead I will use glued biscuit joints to hold it all together (where there isn’t laminate hindering a good glue bond.) For structural integrity and to create a place to securely fasten the control panel, I will also be adding a horizontal shelf under the control panel.
I have been very concerned about safety when designing the cabinet. I am concerned that due to the decreased weight and depth, it might be prone to tipping forward. To help reduce that likelihood, I have decided to use heavier MDF boards instead of plywood for all the rear-ward panels and shelves. I think the design itself is stable enough, but this should help a little more.
If it turns out that the cabinet is tippy despife these efforts, I will need to consider replacing the back-bottom perf-board panel with MDF also.