With utmost respect for Bill Robertie and seeing the post by Terje, i thought i would answer any questions anyone has regarding the design concept and reasoning for designing and manufacturing the P-40 Backgammon Board and products. i'll do my best to answer what i can and start with a few comments.

i'm new to the game 1.5 years playing and have a company that manufactures ballistic windows for the military. With an extensive facility to manufacture products using state of the art CNC machines i thought i would be able to produce a backgammon board which was consistently repeatable using high end machine tolerances. Once the design was finalized, sending the CAD drawings to the machines would be easy enough to produce parts in production at an affordable price. Selection of the materials was chosen by our engineers who solicited the Casino's in Las Vegas for high end materials with the right "feel" when sliding checkers across and would hold up to the abuse of play. Since we use thousands of pounds of aluminum per week along with ballistic steel, we thought aluminum would be easier to machine for the frame and lighter. Using Aluminum however produced a board which was way too heavy and we had to go after "lightening" it up by taking out material wherever we could. Shortly after we found carbon fiber inserts would cover the holes created from machine out the aluminum and also replacing the surface structure with carbon fiber as opposed to aluminum generated another significant weight reduction. As our machining process become more and more efficient, i would love to replace the Aluminum surface backing with the carbon fiber material but just can't afford to do it for the price point we established from the beginning. i can honestly say the board cost to manufacture is close to the selling price. Providing what i considered a "high end board" at an affordable price was the entire goal from the beginning. Handmade custom boards are great and trust me i own two or three of everyone out there, however, for the most part the majority of players just aren't going to spend the money required to obtain a handmade custom board. The P-40 was designed with the intent of providing the high end product, with custom color selection at an affordable price.

The material was selected along with a die sublimation printing process so whatever color selection was chosen it would last for years without showing signs of wear and tear. Also, being we chose a material that was easily cleaned and wouldn't stain when liquids spilled on it. Spill some coffee on it and it should just wipe up, or use some soap and water and it would be good as new.

In addition during design, since making assemblies, we could easily replace one part with another and stumbled on the ability to replace board surfaces just by removing the end screws. So if you really liked another design or torn between two designs you could just order an additional surface and presto you could have another look.

We've has a few problems since starting and one has been the silver chrome checkers flaking. Initially we cad plated the checkers and the design lends itself to an area of high stress when making contact with another checker or rail. we have changed the process to complete anodizing of the checker and eliminated the flaking. if anyone has incurred the flaking go to the website and instructions on getting a replacement set are available.

Width across, is a bit wide, however, the cost to change right now would be prohibitive. i've change the width in the 2" version due to come out soon and the board is just a bit larger than the 1.75" board and yet weighs the same. Maybe one of these days i'll get the urge and produce a 1.75 inch board a bit smaller in width.

i could go on, but best I think i wait to see if any questions or people aren't interested to hear more.

Tom Buckner

Tom,

Thank you for everything!

It's amazing how good the P-40 is now, I'm aware of the very minor issues that have popped up. the good out weighs the bad 10 to 1.

anyone considering a board or upgrading should strongly consider the P-40 i've played well over 200 hours on mine and it looks new(with new checkers). Everyone who has played on it has only said good things.


the P-40 is a great value for the money and will last longer than most of us will its that well built. the precision is amazing.

best
eric

Eric,

Thank you for the kind words. I truly hope we have met all our customer's expectations and can only count on feedback to know how to improve our board and products. Hopefully others will enjoy the same pleasure you have with using P-40 products.

Thanks again,

Tom Buckner