Xacto X73780 Precision Soldering Iron and Hot Knife Tip
by Xacto
|
Our Price: $12.68 Availability: Usually ships in 2-3 business days Buy Used: from $12.00 (click here) Category: Tools See more product details |
|---|
Tools and Hardware Reviews of Xacto X73780 Precision Soldering Iron and Hot Knife Tip
Customer Review: if only i had the patience
Summary: 3 Stars
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.
Customer Review: xacto soldering
Summary: 3 Stars
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.Customer Review: Iron is so so.
Summary: 3 Stars
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.Customer Review: Hot knife?
Summary: 3 Stars
If your doing simple soldering it's ok... If you're thinking of using it for hot cutting fabric (rip-stop nylon or poly, etc.,) forget it! The knife tip never gets hot enough.Customer Review: Ineffective for fine styrene cutting
Summary: 2 Stars
As several other reviewers have said, the heat doesn't transfer to the end of the blade. I bought this to do fine cutting on some styrene models. Like ANY 30-40-watt soldering iron, you plug it in and wait a while. But the tip of the blade never got warm enough to do any cutting. Near the base of the blade, if I waited long enough, it would get warm enough to slice through the styrene, leaving a wierd kind of flash that I had to sand off when I was done, and sometimes melting as much as a milimeter further from the "line" than I wanted. And of course, since it was the fatter part of the blade, I couldn't do the finer trimming I hoped to do.
The little blade-holding adapter I bought fell apart on the first one I bought, but the store let me return it, and the second one lasted through the end of the project.
I might use it again for a similar project, if I remember where I stored the thing when I was through. But I doubt I'll ever buy another.
Paul Race, chief editor, Family Garden Trains(tm)