Plockmatic 310 cheap rubber wheels or non OEM rubber maintenance tires

Anybody have a cheap source for replacement rubber tires/pickup wheels for a plockmatic 310 collator? This is also sold in the US by MBM as the maxxum 10 collator but is the same as the plockmatic 310. Retail the rubber pickup tires go for $20 each, 4 per bin which is a lot @ $800 for a full set. There must be a cheaper source for these, or maybe a non-OEM version of the rubber pickup wheel that would fit? Anyone have a pointer?

cheaper alternative

I know exactly what you mean. I needed new rubber grippers for the feed heads of an older model ABDick bookletmaker (1983). The things are probably worth about a nickel a piece but Presstek wanted about $2 each for them and I would have needed about 100 of them to replace all the feet on all the pickup heads (light weight ones, standard, heavy, double headed at 24 bins X # of gripper per type of head). Anyway I went searching and found the stuff that you line a tool box drawer with to keep your tools from sliding, a huge roll of it for $6. The 2 sided tape was about $3. I cut the stuff to size, scraped off the old ones with a straight edge razor, applied the new ones with the tape and walah!...they worked as good or better than the OEM ones and I saved about $190. But, before I found that stuff, I did contact some rubber manufacturers who were glad to help me and send me free samples of what they offered. I only contacted a few and then found the stuff I used at a hardware store, but I am sure if I kept looking I would have found one through the rubber manufactures. Google is a great tool for finding them. Also I have found similar instances with press & other equipment parts. I found some electrical components through Digi-key, and some things through Grainger. The stuff I found there took a little leg work, but I save a ton of cash over OEM Ryobi part costs and in serveral cases I got the exact same part - same brand & everything, with the others I found compatable parts usually just a different brand. These two sources are great for replacement switches, relays, lamps, motors, soilenoids, etc. Some parts there are just no alternate sources for and so you half to pay the price, but when ever I can I will buy them through other sources if the savings is significant.

I have the same issue as the original poster. I have an old Plockmatic 310 collator where pretty much all the tires look pretty worn. It can't handle feeding one sheet at a time unless there are a lot of sheets in the bin. When it gets down toward the bottom of the pile it just starts sucking in many sheets at a time, which also can happen even with many sheets in the bins. I got this machine from a company that used it for years and probably never changed the tires. So at $20 (or more) a tire, quite an excessively expensive endeavor. Does anyone know if issues like these could be solved by only replacing the tire(s) on top of the separator pad(s) and leaving the rest worn?

Your story of using the rubber drawer liner in your bookletmaker sounds very interesting. I couldn't find any info on the net about ab dick bookletmaker as I wanted to compare the feed head you were describing to what the Plockmatic collator has. I know this post is from several years ago, so I don't know if you'll see this, but was it feed tires you were describing in your bookletmaker or something flat? Do you think this could be applicable in cutting up the liner and wrapping it around a shaved-off tire? If anyone else has any tips that would be great. Maybe roughing up the wheels with sandpaper so they're less smooth?

Don't mean to sound cheap, but replacing all these wheels with the sources I'm familiar with would be over $1000 and I could very easily just buy a new plockmatic 310 or other collator for less than that.

Voltage,

Yes, you can definitely make a big improvement by just replacing the main roller over the separator pads. Also, you can try just moving them around on the bar. Especially moving the furthermost rollers to the center can make the biggest difference. There really shouldnt be any need to replace all of the rollers. You can also try a rubber rejuvinator instead of a roller wash a few times and that could help out too! Good luck!

Also I am pretty sure you can try to adjust the springs tensioning that keeps the station pressing up. You'll find them under the covers on the back or front - I do not remember now.