Glowforge Gantry Wheel Replacement

Coworker came to me and said student workers reported the glowforge was making a “thunking” noise. Upon investigation, I found one of the gantry wheels on the left side of the machine was missing a chunk of rubber. After snooping around the glowforge website for a spare part, I found that they do not have that particular wheel available. They only have the wheels that go on the laser head, which are significantly smaller and therefore not interchangeable.I submitted a ticket to glowforge support to inquire how to purchase a replacement. I was informed that it is “not a user serviceable part” and was so generously offered a $1,000 discount on a brand new $7,000 machine since they think I’m too stupid to be able to replace a pom wheel. After a bit of googling, I found that this seemed to be a common story among glowforge users and everyone had been left with a paperweight that couldn’t afford a new machine. I know these pom wheels only cost about 20 cents or so each. Now, fully motivated