Diamond Billiard Products Switches from Wood to Molded Composite Legs, Cutting Labor and Tournament Setup Time
Diamond Billiard Products replaced wood table legs with injection-molded composite components, reducing manufacturing time from months to days, improving durability, and speeding tournament installation three- to four-fold.
Diamond Billiard Products has completed a material conversion that replaces traditional wood table legs with a high-performance molded composite solution, dramatically reducing labor and manufacturing time while improving durability and tournament installation efficiency.
The company, known for producing pool tables used in professional tournaments worldwide, spent several years developing concepts and 3D-printed prototypes before partnering with custom injection molder Manar to bring the design to scale. The original wood legs required cutting, shaping, sanding, finishing and pre-assembly across multiple departments, involving eight employees and 10 to 12 individual components per leg. 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 10 to 12 wood components into a primary molded body with a foot block and shaft. The final material, 40% long-glass polypropylene, provides the strength required to support tables weighing 1,200 to 1,300 pounds, with finite element analysis (FEA) validation and real-world stress testing confirming minimal deflection and durability.
The operational impact has been significant. Manufacturing time for the legs dropped from months to a fraction of that, and labor requirements were cut. The new design also improved tournament setup: instead of installers lying on their backs to access leveling nuts near the floor, they now use a side-access panel and battery-powered tool while seated. Legs can be adjusted up to 1.5 inches to accommodate uneven floors, making installation three to four times faster with improved ergonomics. At large tournaments with hundreds of tables, the time savings are substantial.
Anthony Neeley, new business development and director of operations at Manar, said: "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. When Diamond needed legs, they needed to know they could count on us, and that's exactly what we deliver."
Diamond's facility is located near a Manar location, allowing close collaboration, rapid sample exchange and hands-on engineering support. Diamond now relies on Manar for leg production and continued innovation.
Following the success of the legs, Diamond partnered with Manar to manufacture its table pockets. Previously, pocket components were molded domestically, shipped to Taiwan for leather wrapping and returned, resulting in long lead times of up to three months, freight delays, and quality fallout of up to 50%. The new pocket consolidates parts, eliminates a production step, removes dependency on overseas finishing, uses automated molding with robotic insert placement, and offers improved durability with a modern matte black textured finish. The redesign mitigates risk, reduces scrap and improves supply reliability.
Pool tables are iconic, traditional products, and innovation in this category isn't common. But Diamond saw an opportunity. By converting a core structural component from wood to composite, the company reduced labor and manufacturing time, improved installation ergonomics, increased durability, strengthened supply chain reliability, and maintained tournament-level performance. Through its partnership with Manar, Diamond successfully modernized a legacy product without compromising the quality players expect.