Plockmatic 310 + Color Laser Printed Output = Static issues?

Is it normal for color laser printed output on uncoated paper when run through a plockmatic 310 collator to develop quite a bit of static on the emerging sets, sometimes? (enough that sometimes you can't even hand jog them straight without peeling the top sheet off to break the static cling? Other sets seem to have little to no static)

Is it something about the laser printed output creating the static? (the boxes of each page as delivered from the printer don't seem to have any static cling, and whole sets printed on the printer at once don't have any static cling, but I'm wondering if it's something about dissilimiar charges between boxes of 1200 of each different sheet or something...)

Or is it more likely an issue being created by the collator itself?

Is there an easy way to remove static from the collated sets (or the jogged pile of 40-100 collated sets) at once?

 

I think your static issue comes from the laser printer or copiers you are using, not the collator in this case.

 

You might need to switch from a Plockmatic 310 collator to a Plockmatic 510 with air. The air assist feature helps dramatically with laser paper and static issues. Visit http://copyfinishing.com/collators.htm for more info.

 

When I posted this in 2007 we were using ikon bond paper and canon color printers.
In late 2008 we switched to a docucolor and immediately noticed less static in the collated output.
Then we then switched from ikon bond to hammermill tidal for a while. The tidal has a nice stiffness and opacity, but finally we switched to xerox 4200 bond paper. The xerox 4200 has slightly less stiffness (but more than the ikon paper we used before) and less opacity than the hammermill tidal, but it is very smooth and I don't think we've had one jam or misfeed in the collator since switching to 4200 and also there is almost never a static issue with it.

 

Glad to hear that you solved your problem by changing to another stock. As you have experienced, paper type is very critical. Under various conditions some paper may result in more static than another. It could vary from one copier to another and from day to day. Since the problem was occurring on the front end, prior to reaching the collator, you may want to consider a heavy-duty paper jogger with air-assist, like a Challenge iJog: http://www.cfsbinds.com/chijapajo.html

Should you experienced excessive static in the future, especially to the point that a ream of paper acts like a "block, the Challenge iJog will help separate the sheets and remove the static.