 Hi, I'm Richie Dola-Shut. And I want to show you how I built an economical but professional quality, beautiful, under-mount sink, integrated into a laminate countertop. I'm thankful for others who created videos on how to do this, and without their instruction I would have never attempted this. But in the process of building my own, and being then a bit frugal and a heavy DIYer, I made a few changes that really helped save money without sacrificing quality. The main and really critical step in my technique is to use G-Flex two-part epoxy glue, instead of the more expensive, solid surface adhesive or special applicator guns that are typically specified for bonding the edge of the sink to the edge of the laminate. But because I chose a 100% acrylic sink, I needed to very briefly flame treat the edges of the sink to maximize the strength of the bond. But let's take a closer look. I did a test, and on the left I took a laminate sample, applied G-Flex to the top half of it, and just taped it to the hidden side of the sink bowl. On the left I found the laminate popped right off. But on the right, I was pretty amazed. The preparation made such a dramatic difference that I couldn't get the laminate off. The laminate actually broke before it would come off. It definitely passed my test. I figured if the laminate would break before the glue tore apart, then it was strong enough for me. So G-Flex passed the test. And now I'm ready to go ahead and do this process. But one of the most important things before doing your project is consider the sink material. The sink I chose was acrylic, but there are other materials out there for under-mount sinks. Examined carefully, you're sink. Find the flat surface and see if it lays flat without wobbling. Are there any cracks in it? You definitely want to inspect it before you take all the time to install it. The sink I chose was 28x18. It was 100% acrylic. It had an under-mount edge on it, so it was perfectly suited for this type of project. Okay, so once you've measured your overall cabinets, consider all the other measurements that might play into this. Your overhang. How much you want. Consider any unique characteristics to your application. What I did is I put my sink over my cabinet, and I literally positioned it how far back I wanted, and then from that I figured out my measurements of where exactly I wanted it to sit. You're now ready to cut down your substrate. Here I'm using the straight edge of another piece of MDF to guide my circular size. I cut down my substrate. The next step, mark each cabinet position to determine the exact sink location. This is how my cabinets were laid out, and so I measured the substrate and then drew lines where the cabinets would line up onto the substrate. Then in doing that, I was able to determine exactly where I wanted to position my sink over my 36 inch base cabinet. Then I set my sink bowl back about an inch or three quarters from the edge and made sure it was centered by measuring the left and right sides a couple of times to make sure they were even. I then took a pen and just put it straight down and traced the line around it. After I traced the sink, I took this little roto zip, but it really didn't work well. So here I am using just a jigsaw and that worked great. Now you're going to lay your laminate over your newly cut substrate and then you just want to trim the laminate to have a little overhang on all edges so that you have a little margin when you lay it down for the final gluing. I purchased a Harbor Freight Tools router and a flush trim router bit. It had an offset bearing that you could adjust. While it wasn't the highest quality, it was more than adequate to do this job. Now kneeling down, take a pencil and trace the outline of the sink cut out on the bottom of the laminate. Remove and place laminate aside. Then I just clamped a couple of pieces of plywood over the top of the substrate and flipped it over. Get strips of plywood and attach flush to all edges. Install your sink. I cut some strips of plywood, put them pretty close to the edge of the sink, carefully drill in a screw, roughly by every corner of the sink, to carefully adjust the height. If you noticed, I got strips going across and they coincide with the tops with the edges of the cabinets. I could have went with just two solid layers of MDF, but it would have added dramatically to the weight and as it is here, it's relatively light and strong. The next step is to tweak your height and to bond the sink into the substrate. Here I am with the straight edge. I'm adjusting the screws on the bottom to bring the edge of the lip of the sink up ever so slightly above the substrate. A 30 second of an inch or 64th is perfect. Now mix a batch of automotive bondo and apply to the top surface of the sink. Try to press in deep down into the cracks as that will be critical to hold and support the sink. Mask off the entire sink with masking tape and a large piece of thick paper or equivalent. Now simply sand the bondo flush. I use the belt sander to take off the bulk of the material and then as I got closer, I use the flat orbital sander to make fine feathering of the edges. But as you sand, you want to periodically check with a straight edge to make sure you're not going too low. You want to just sand this flush. Sink edge prep. This only applies if you have an acrylic sink. Now again, the sink I went with was 100% acrylic. And so I absolutely needed to flamethrie it for best adhesion. But if you went with a granite composite or some other material, you likely would not have to flamethrie this. But the way you would determine that is do a test like I did, do it on the side of the sink and test to see if you're getting an adequate bond. Take a new piece of a 100 grit sandpaper and carefully score the edges of the sink. I dusted off the entire countertop and particularly I dusted off very carefully the edge of the sink. And I did not clean it with any solvents. Then take a torch, a burn somatic like this, and fairly quickly go around the edges, making sure the flame actually touches the edge. And just make one or two quick passes. If you're not sure if you flamethried it enough, you may want to let it sit in cool for a minute and go one more time as I did. I'm touching it here to make sure it's not hot. And just to be safe, I gave it a few seconds and then ran the flame around again. Just to make sure it was treated well. This is all the treating I did. Your sink edge is now fully prepared. The next step is to apply contact cement to your MDF or your substrate, whatever you chose. And apply it generously. MDF was somewhat absorbent. I had to apply at least two coats, leave about a quarter inch gap around your sink with the contact cement. And then let the contact cement dry, come back and check it, any place where it looks like it has adsorbed into your substrate, you may need to apply additional contact cement. Take your sink cut out from your substrate and place it directly over the spot where you traced on the back of your laminate. And then take your contact cement and apply it over the back of the laminate. You may need to apply two coats of contact cement to the back of the laminate depending on how heavily you are applying it. Now you're ready to mix your g-flex. Simply take equal parts of the g-flex resin and mix up a large enough batch. You don't want to be too short once you're doing that here. Because I'm applying it, I happen to just have enough. And mix it together really well. And I simply apply it with a little piece of plastic being generous. And since the inside of my sink is fully taped off, I'm not worried if there's a little bit of runoff. I'm covering the entire edge of the sink, but I'm not applying so much that it's running off. You'll need to cut strips of either wooden dowels or similar material. I use some scrap trim pieces. I cut down about 30 inches that were very clean and dust free. And I laid those every four or five inches. And here I'm getting ready to attach this. I asked my neighbor to help. The object here is to simply lay the laminate over the substrate without it touching the contact cement. Because once it touches the contact cement, it's going to be a permanent bond and you won't be able to adjust it. Carefully check all the edges to make sure that you have some overhang. Now you're ready to take out the wooden dowels. You can start at the sink and carefully move out. Pressing on the laminate to attach it to the substrate. If you want to purchase a J-roller, that's a great investment for this project. You may be able to substitute. I simply used a block of wood that was cut wider on the top where my hands touched it than it was at the bottom. And I simply wrapped it with a couple layers of a very soft cloth working from the inside out. Press down and worked any air bubbles that might have been in that laminate out. Position the sink cut out piece over the sink and about 3 to 5 pounds of extra weight. Let the countertop dry for a full 24 hours. The next step now is to route the edges and the sink bowl. Here I'm using a flush trim bearing router bit and I simply just trim off the excess. Then take a straight block of wood and 100 to 150 grit sandpaper and sand the edges smooth. Now take a drill and drill a pilot hole into the laminate. Well within the sink bowl, be careful not to let the drill drift off as the laminate is very slippery to drill. Your first pass with the router is to just cut out the sink area. Now remove the masking. There are different ways you can route the edge of the sink bowl. You can use a 5 or 6 degree angled router bit with a bearing or you can do it the way I did it with a tilt router. The hybrid freight tools router I used didn't have a tilt base in it but I simply took approximately a half inch piece of plastic and hot glued it into the router base and that gave me approximately 6 degrees of tilt and with my straight cut router bit that was perfect to route the inside edge of the bowl. The router bit is fine if it makes some light grooves in the sink as that's normal as you would just sand them out in the final sanding. As you route the corners of the bowl, be careful to curve the router and make sure the base stays flat. The next step is to fine sand this. Carefully use a file, taking care to always go down at a 45 degree angle and just lightly take off the sharp edges of the laminate. Now take a sanding block with 150 grit sandpaper and sand the edge. Now here I was able to sand out any marks that the router left. And just take your time and sand this carefully. Imperiodically as you're sanding wipe it clean to check your progress and you should end up with something like this. This was the first countertop I ever built, is now in a third year of use. That speaks a little bit to its durability already. If you have any comments, thoughts or suggestions, please leave them in the comments below. Thank you very much for watching. I really hope this has been a help for you.