Does any one have any insight, photos, or ideas about what would be a good design for one of these?. I want to make something that will hold a board securely either horizontally or on its rail while I do surgery.

Basically you need a couple of Y shaped stands. With horizontals on top of the Y but the top part a U shape instead of a V , make the U wide enough to line with foam and still not too narrow for the thickest part of the board. Traditional method for movable ones is to set them in a concrete filled bucket, or attach them to an old wheel. Mine are permanently set in the floor, they're more stable that way.

Here's a pick with a board on it's edge.



And here's me routing out for the foot strap high density foam inserts.

Great pictures! Thanks!
Is there something that prevents the board from sliding off the top?. I find I have a few problems with that on my current set up.

^^^ +1

I made stands just like that shape with the cheap pine about 100 x 45mm ish that is used in roofing timber.
Cover in foam from a mattress and then 150mm wide carpet strip.
The carpet is easily replaceable as when it gets full of crap it will scuff paint.

They are only short do I can clamp them onto a saw horse and when not needed they take up no space.
Other advantage is a broad surface for the board to sit on.


My other set is made as per above pics with the steel poles from a trampoline net, welded onto car rims. Foam is just carpet underlay cut about 50mm wide and wrapped around 60000 times :)
The adnantage to round is you can wrap painter's tape on the 'wrong' way around, then a blank will stick and not move when being shaped.

Maybe because I've used these for several decades, I automatically compensate for any slippage, because I don't have that problem. Could be that the old mattress foam I've used is fairly high friction.
Mark's solution sounds good though.

(PS. just noticed in the background of the top pic you can see the glassing stand leaning against the back wall. The stands are interchangeable, the glassing stands are narrow and just a T shape. It allows the glass to overhang the board without getting in the way.

Great idea on the glassing stands. Another cool idea was in the nelson video. Reall tall stands so you can stand under the board and pull pvc foam down over the rails using both hand, one on each rail to get an even pull. I have a couple of bricks wrapped in foam to weigh the board down. I just recently measured up a few boards. My shed is too full so i had to do it inside. Not wanting to risk a divorce i didnt bring in the shaping stands. I found a pair of chairs, ikea bent ply ones, that have a curved back and a slight concave curve on top, put a blanket over em and they held the boards nice. But only real good with deck down. Only good for a finished board.

^^ reminds me too, 2 x Sulo bins works just fine for many jobs.

Mines made of 25mm rhs, can pull it apart very easily. I use a sandbag to keep it still when I'm using it

Looks nice and stable Craig, probably better than concrete filled buckets, and easier on the back when you have to shift them.

Great pictures! Filling my head with ideas. I will be building in wood because that's what I do.

Shaping stands , that brings back memories , used to be easy using blanks with stringers and polyester resin . Graphics was fun. Now your shaping wobbly styrofoam , epoxy , vacuum , in a bloody oven for Christ sakes . No more backyard fun !

I just started my new ones this week and I have gone overboard!

These new stands are made from 2x 18mm mdf sheet glued together with resin and then connected with 16mm MDF to make an enclosed box that will be split into two parts. The first will hold the vacuum pump that will be built into the frame and the rest for tool storage.

Might even paint it!

These are easy to make and work well, mdf sheet slotted bases lock in together.
Use sand bags as weighting to hold things while you're working. I use zip lock bags (several of them so they don't burst) filled with sand.

More great ideas. I'm really looking forward to building mine.

There's a nice one on the JP Aust site, watch the video for the SLW. Might try to make one like it myself

If you're serious enough to need good stands then the next most useful thing is side/shaping lights.

Here's what you see with an overhead light. I'm bogging up a big dent in Fangys ancient F2, and have started have sanding it back

Just looks like I need to add a bit more bog


But turn off the overhead and turn on the side light and this is what you see.


Now it's obvious I need to do some more sanding, not only is there high spots on the bottom edge, there's also a very out of shape center "V" line.

Here's the light it self.



I'm also doing a nose cut off, had a go at the wedge technique but it didn't work well for me. The nose of this board is wide, there's no way I have a hacksaw blade long enough, so I used my finest panel saw. On the test sample it didn't plow up the foam too badly, but it made a bit of a mess inside the board. Plus my resin has gone extremely thick in the cold weather, and I couldn't figure out how to get it to the back of the cut.
So I cut the flap off, sandbagged and taped it back on with plenty of bog, after cleaning up both surfaces. #@$%^ sandbags weren't heavy enough and about 2cm away from the join didn't stick, so I've had to cut this bit out and replace with d-cell. You can just make this out, a bit back from the front stand.

OH and another thought, sometimes it's handy for the stands and the light to be height adjustable.
If you use weights to squeeze excess resin out, and smooth out the cloth layers, you don't want too much of a slope at the nose, so raising front stand and lowering the back one achieves this