Last week, one of my Z axis linear module stopped working. I opened it up and found the motor driver chip (the one below the thermal pad) was fried and there were holes blown through it:
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I figured I could just replace the driver board, so I looked on Amazon and bought this cheap (probably knockoff) driver for $7.
It’s obviously too big to fit inside the linear module, so I decided to just put it outside the module. The wires would have to be extended though. Here’s how the motor should be connected to the driver:
Just to be safe, I also made an adapter PCB using my other CNC machine to buffer the signal from the controller to the driver.
The other board (with the microcontroller on it) inside the linear module doesn’t seem to interact with the motor in any way and is undamaged, so I kept it. Here’s everything ready to be connected.
It actually worked the first try. Here’s a video showing it working:
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Congratulations,
Looks fully functional.
I also have a dead module in the drawer. (it has been replaced)
Would this chip be the right one?
It might be a little tough to get off there, but it’s worth a shot for a total outlay of $10.
This is hardcore DIY. Didn’t expect this to be possible.
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I’m not sure about the chip because I replaced the whole board rather than the chip. There might be other components damaged on the board too other than just that chip. Also the new board has better cooling (the entire back of that board is heat sink fins) while the original board doesn’t have a heat sink at all, so I worry if I just replace the chip the board may fail again due to heat reasons.
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