Diamond Billiard Products has replaced the traditional wooden legs of its professional tournament pool tables with a high-performance molded composite solution, achieving significant reductions in labor, manufacturing time, and installation complexity while improving durability. The conversion, developed in partnership with custom injection molder Manar, addresses longstanding inefficiencies in production and tournament setup.
Previously, each leg required cutting, shaping, sanding, finishing, and pre-assembly across multiple departments, involving eight employees and 10 to 12 individual components. Production could take up to three months from raw material to finished product. Brent Lykins, mechanical engineer at Diamond, said: "I'm here to find better ways of doing things, approaches to reduce manufacturing time and enhance performance. The wood legs were very labor intensive. We wanted to streamline it."
The new design consolidates components into a primary molded body with a foot block and shaft, using 40% long-glass polypropylene for structural strength. Finite element analysis confirmed the legs could support tables weighing 1,200 to 1,300 pounds with minimal deflection, and real-world stress testing involved lifting and dropping tables to confirm durability. The molded legs are produced in a fraction of the time previously required.
Installation improvements are equally significant. Tournament installers previously had to lie on their backs to access leveling nuts near the floor. With the new design, a side-access panel and battery-powered tool allow adjustments while seated, and legs can be adjusted up to 1.5 inches to accommodate uneven floors. Installation is now three to four times faster, with improved ergonomics and no sacrifice in precision. For large tournaments with hundreds of tables, the time savings are substantial.
Anthony Neeley, new business development and director of operations at Manar, explained: "This wasn't just about molding a part. It was about applying a design for manufacturability approach to meet the structural demands of tournament-level use and deliver measurable operational improvements." Manar refined Diamond's initial concepts, assisted with material selection, part design, and tooling, and validated performance through analysis and testing. Diamond's facility is located near a Manar location, enabling close collaboration.
Following the success of the legs, Diamond also partnered with Manar to manufacture table pockets. Previous pockets were molded domestically, shipped to Taiwan for leather wrapping, and returned, resulting in lead times of up to three months, freight delays, and quality fallout of up to 50%. The redesigned pocket consolidates parts, eliminates overseas finishing, uses automated molding with robotic insert placement, and offers improved durability with a modern matte black textured finish. This change mitigates risk, reduces scrap, and improves supply reliability.
Diamond Billiard Products manufactures high-performance pool tables used in professional tournaments worldwide. Manar is a leading custom plastic injection molding company with over four decades of experience, operating multiple U.S. facilities and serving industries including aerospace, automotive, and medical. More information is available at www.diamondbilliards.com and www.manarinc.com.
