[WagonWheel]

Now that adding USB to EZ floppy machines has become child's play, I decided to add a USB port to the front EZ-Trak console. My floppy A: drive was in the back of the machine and it is much more convenient having it on the console as a USB. In addition, I decided to build a new box for a color monitor and made a sliding drawer for a keyboard. Sorry for the poor pictures.

Picture 1 shows the USB port in the upper right with the keyboard extended. The screen shows reading from A:/ (the USB)
Picture 2 shows the same with the keyboard in.
Picture 3 shows the cover on the USB port
Picture 4 is the back of the new console with some wires disconnected.

[custommetal]

adding a USB port is a great idea. I assume the cnc software is a dos format. What drivers are required, how are they installed, and what is needed to replace the A:/ ? This would be a big help as I cannot get my rs232 to work anymore. No one in this area knows anything about rs232 or how to trouble shoot.
thanx, George

[WagonWheel]

It is extremely easy. All that is needed is a floppy emulator. On Ebay search "floppy emulator". There are basically two types. One with a digital display and those without. The ones without the digital display read a USB flash drive as if it is one 1.44mb floppy disk. The ones with the digital display allow a USB flash drive to be formatted as if it is many separate floppys (100?). Either one should work. I chose the single one and just used a USB extension cable and panel mount to move it to the front.
The floppy emulator just physically replaces the floppy A:. Just remove the floppy drive and replace with the emulator. (4 screws) The floppy power and ribbon cable from the machine just plug in to the emulator. Next, on a Windows machine with a USB port, use the software supplied with the emulator to format a USB flash drive. With the single style emulator the USB flash drive is formatted to 1.44mb. To an EZ machine the USB emulator now appears as the floppy drive. Programs from the machine can be written or read from the USB as if it is a floppy. Programs from a computer can be copy/pasted/written to the USB flash drive with the limitation being the 1.44mb size.
The good is a more modern USB flash drive can be used. The bad is it is still limited to 1.44mb.