In part 2, about 42 seconds in sicklebrick makes the gel go back through the floor portal to hit the ceiling, and that's incredible. Not once is that floor button needed. In another world, that would be a Steam achievement of some sort.
My way was to use the button to angle the panel, and put one portal on the panel (while standing on the button) and one portal on the bottom of the far wall. The angle of the panel is enough that the gel will paint a bit of the floor under the grating. The player steps off the button, portals the now-lowered panel, and portals the new spot on the floor. Because the white gel is falling from the high ceiling, it has more than enough velocity to reach the low ceiling directly above the floor portal.
At this point, the player cannot enter an infinite fall because of the grating on the floor, but a gel blob can. sicklebrick demonstrates this part to the letter, putting the gel in an infinite fall before portaling the floor near the cube and paining a bit of ceiling. Then it's a simple matter of putting a portal up there, falling through it, and getting the cube.
That came out to be a lot of words.