Customer Reviews

Xacto X73780 Precision Soldering Iron and Hot Knife Tip

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I have built many architectural models over my career as a student and I usually count on Xacto for making decent products. This one however, did not work. The solder tip screws in fine to the threaded barrel, but when you want to make precise cuts into styrofoam as I do, you physically CANNOT attach the knife attachment to the threaded barrel. This is supposed to work the same way a knife tightens by spinning the textured barrel, yet the screws are not long enough to secure the blade.
Simply put, if you want a cheap soldering iron with a useless hot knife attachment that doesn't heat up enough to cut foam, buy this-if not, select another model.

It's sad when we have come to a time when once reputable companies sell such substandard products. The review that said junk was being nice. The tip does not screw in far enough to secure to the iron. I worked around this by grinding some of the barrel so the tip would screw in further. This worked until the barrel split in half. We live in an age of a disposable society. Companies exist by making inferior products, and when they fail we just toss them and move on. Skip this product, the land fills are full enough.

Originally I got very excited about finally being able to use the Xacto blades I already had in a hot knife, but the problem is it doesn't work that way. The Xacto blades are too thin and simply cannot transfer any heat through the cutting edge. BUT there is some hope...

I am cutting heavy nylon webbing with mine, but not with the blade tip. The package also had a round tip that carried heat much better. I made this into a more bladed tip by heating the unit up and hammering the round tip flat. This makes it a bit denser as well to hold heat. I then took the tip to a grinding wheel to make it even sharper. Works very well now. Just don't expect the blade tip to do anything that a normal Xacto handle can't.

It never heated up. The copper area where it connects got hot, but the tip itself did not.
So. I thought I would use it as a knife without any heat, and its very awkward to hold. I got this to cut stencils, thinking it would be more precise and that I would avoid over-cuts.
It doesn't work hot or cold.

it's your basic soldering iron w/ a twist. the tip it comes w/ is a XACTO knife. good, yes? the bad, it seems that the tip doesn't seat so well on the iron and either it's that or it's the XACTO knife itself, but it does NOT heat up so well. Sure, the tip is super sharp since it is a XACTO tip, but it doesn't heat up as a soldering tip should. but it should be good enough for wax projects and other similar uses. maybe ok for cheap soft plastics like model kits, etc.

This iron is definitely one of the cheaper made products I've used. It works well enough, but putting any pressure on the iron with the hot knife attachment will bend the shaft.

Good product all around, I use it for cutting tool box layouts from foam mats for aviation toolboxes. My only complaint is that it takes two cuts to cut through thick foam. It is a 35 watt soldering iron, a longer blade and higher wattage iron would help a great deal. The blade adapter will screw into any standard size soldering iron, and will accept any x-acto or similar blade so there is a great deal of flexibility. In either case this product easily melts through foam up to 3/8 of an inch thick in its standard configuration.

We used this little knife to cut out foam shapes for our Vacation Bible School. It worked great and saved us tons of time!

it takes pretty long to heat up.
pretty frackin long.
the blade that comes with it is VERY VERY fragile. while i was cutting through a rubber bushing all of a sudden it breaks off and pieces go flying. i got a pretty nasty burn on my arm.
the second time it took so long that something possessed me to leave the room for a minute and grab a glass of orange juice as i waited for it to heat up.

and...i sort of forgot about it...
a week later i find it still plugged in and cold as ice.
whoops. it melted itself.

this literally broke after a half hour. This is garbage. The construction wasn't at all good. After a half hour, it literally melted and fell apart. I think this is actually a dangerous product and would NOT recommend.