Just curious, if we were able to put the system files onto the USB, would the machine read it off of it most likely ?? Only asking because this would make the USB ideal for. Me to invest in..
Also, anyone try this on the older machines (c7 control on a m35k??) I would assume it would prob work as disks can be shared between c11 and c7 controls..
Sadly, it's not that simple to put the system files on a USB for a Mits EDM. The system disks, language disks, etc are not in standard formats that a Windows computer can deal with. In fact, a standard PC floppy drive does not even possess the hardware capability to read the system disks at all.
MC Machinery (Mits) recently came out with a full USB replacement drive for the floppy disk drives in all of their machines. The OEM floppy drives are no longer available and can be hard to find on the secondary or used market. The emulator offered by Mits are a little pricey but for good reason, these are very well built and surprisingly complex units. I know them well as I am also a dealer for the company that makes the emulators however supplier agreements prevent me from selling them for a Mitsubishi EDM. They even have a model that adds networking support, and if you have multiple machines you can share one unit between machines which helps knock down the cost a bit.
The Ebay units are all made in China and many are way overpriced for what they are. There are two basic units that are prolific on there, the PLR version which is made by Richpeace in China and sells factory direct for about $100, and the other version which is often touted to be "Designed for XXXX" machine which is just a sticker on a $15 drive made by a Chinese company named Gotek, although they are frequently sold on Ebay for $80-$350 each. There are about 6 different versions of those depending on which format they are supposed to emulate, and many of them require specially formatted USB thumb drives. There are other more serious hardware issues with both of these units but I won't bother to get into them here.
All told, being in the EDM repair business and well knowing the need for such an item I researched this for MONTHS and ultimately came to the conclusion that the only effective product on the market that is a full replacement for a Mitsubishi EDM is the one sold by the factory. Some of the cheaper emulators may work with limited success for loading programs but for loading software the Ebay drives simply can't handle doing multiple or non standard formats.
OK shameless plug time: If you have a Sodick, Charmilles, Agie, or any CNC machine with a floppy drive that you would like to upgrade to USB or USB+Network I would love to work with you. I can even set these up to be shared between multiple machines and I have the ability to digitize your original disks no matter what the format.