Unanswered Stepper Driver issues

So while trying to start a PVA mold print today I had a strange turn of events happen. First I hit "print" only to find that my extruder motor was not running. I plugged in another stepper cable into the extruder motor, and it worked. I tried switching the cables, so the extruder stepper had a cable I knew worked, still nothing. So this is where things take a turn. I decided to switch the stepper drivers for the extruder and x axis out for one another. It's important to note that when I went to test this the bottom of my printer was open and I had set it on a pair of needle nose pliers without knowing. I find it hard to believe the needle nose was making contact with anything, but unless swapping stepper drivers has something to do with it, it must have been the pliers. SO basically everything went up in smoke..... Literally, when I plugged in my printer and turned it on, it caught fire. When I went to inspect the damage I had inflicted on the underside I could see that the stepper driver for the Y axis was fried. Seriously this thing was freaking toasted. It looked like a Clinton family hard drive, and my whole house smelled like a sony VCR. I didn't switch the Y with anything just the X and extruder. So I am assuming it was the pliers?

 

Thats what I think. Can I replace the stepper drivers with some generic ones or do I need to go through ROBO to get theirs? The arduino itself seems fine but I don't really know for sure. I am reluctant to plug it into my computer because when it shorted my computer turned off immediately.

I have an R1+ referb. HOWEVER for what ever reason my printers z azis motors share a driver, where as on a regular R1+ I believe they are independent. No warrantee, the reason I have a r1+ referb is because they replaced my R1 that had issues.

 

I don't think I did. Unless the bottom set sit in a different orientation than the top. Like I said it was the Y driver that burnt up, and I didn't even move that one.

 

The stepper drivers are pretty cheap and you can just get them off of Amazon http://a.co/cH4pqpr. Keep in mind you can also buy the whole kit with arduino mega, ramps, drivers, and full graphics lcd controller for ~$34 http://a.co/5glQ4G3.

 

I honestly believe this is better to have just one driver instead of 2 for Z. Like Geof was asking, are you sure you have an R1+? If your Z axis by the bed has couplers, then you have the R1.