I have 3018 router (toy). last time before the issue I am going to describe, I pluged in the power cable to the driver board
and observed some sparks coming out. Then I corrected the power supply side that was causing the spark.

After that the spindle motor comes on and stayed on. Nothing I can do to shut it down other than pulling its cable. I concluded that the driving circut integrated into the board died.

So I said I can live with that.

But then I observed the Z axis motor acting wrong but consistant and the issue is repeatable.

in the UGC sender I click Z- down and the motor goes down as it should. When I press the Z-up arrow, it will go down, and when click the Z-up arrow again, it will go up again as it should. So every time I changed the command from down to up, it will take one command down first before it act correctly.

I swaped the cables between X and Z motors, and the issue transfered to the X axis motor.So it is either the a4988 driver or the board.

I replaced the A4988 with new one and the issue persisted.

So I concluded that the board went bad and I ordered a new board. I also have spare Arduino sheild I thought I can replace the original board with, but I was not able to plug female jumper wires
to the motors, the motors look like having special connector which I also placed order for, but where I am they will arrive mid July.

I do not want to open three motors and solder the connections and I do not want to cut the wires of the original plugs.

the X and Y motors well behaved..


my question

because I am in the middle of a small project and the delivery will take extended time, is there something I can do to repair the board?


It is the sainsmart ginmitsu controler which nothing but Arduino Uno with sheild integrated into one flat board rather than sheild style with some aditional components which I can live without. I can do very good soldering but I am not an electronic person.

where should I look ?


Thanks


Philip