I'm looking for a nice cheap ultrasonic hobby knife.

Hey guys,
I was wondering what's your mileage on your existing ultra sonic hobby knives. I don't even know where to start looking. Or if there is a >$100 option. I used to know them as ultrasonic knives in the navy. But if I search for that on Google, I get kitchen knives or $400 plus industrial ultrasonics.

 

I'm curious, whats the difference between a Ultrasonic hobby knife and the "hobby knifes" campers use (ie, cheapo swiss army knives.). The name would suggest the ability to open doors and time travel, but I doubt that.

 

They cut plastic like butter, and leave minimal scaring or "whiting" of plastics. makes a job done by a exacto knife or dremal look like crap.

 

That looks brilliant! I presume it's heated up right? It went straight through that plastic.

 

the act of it vibrating against the plastic heats it up, but not enough to produce carbon, or any candle like melting.

 

I was after one of these a year or 2 ago. Price put me off tho ($400+ when I was looking).

If they are down to around $100 -150 id be interested again

 

Would it not be cheaper to buy scalpel blades and holder ? seriously I can get 5 scalpel blades for 25 kroner, and the holder should be pretty cheap too. If I am not mistaken. And I can get a holder for 75 kroner and up, so screw that ultra sonic hobby knife, when it is cheaper to get a scalpel holder, and blades. And the dollar price to the krone is at the moment 1 $ = 5.72 kroner

Now we just need a dreamcast VMU emulator for the NANO

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MQAoCC2gsU

Impressive overall.

 

It's cheaper to buy a bike rather than a car too. Doesn't mean they are the same.

 

You know what ? the last demonstration video was a joke. It is easier, and faster and more precise. To have make a straight line with a scalpel and a ruler. Than the other video. But then again I am not really impressed by a ultrasonic hobby knife. I have enough knives and blades to not care about the particular apparatus.

 

The video APE linked is terrible.

But you should do some research before saying a hobby knife is remotely comparable to a ultrasonic.


This video is better:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcA2qQvGoF8&feature=player_embedded

 

LOL well, don't you think Dremel could do the same thing ? Or a small automatic saw of some kind ? Cause I am not impressed.

 

No a dremel is no where near as good, clean or accurate.

and a automatic saw? in really tight places? not going to happen.

 

Okay then, but it is still bloody expensive.

 

I very much agree.

$100-$150 would be acceptable (purely because I would get the use out of it and make the money back). $400 I saw last time is not.

 

The last time I used more than 400 $, there I bought a Canon EOS 1100D, and that cost me to be exact 3000 kroner or 524 $ and 65 cents, so at least I got something for my money And I must add, I had saved some money up beforehand , cause I do not have such cash in my back-pocket.

 

It looks like these guys don't use it very often. You have to be quick and use the right pressure. You can make cuts, where if scalped, and sanded on the edge with high grit sand paper and water, that are indistinguishable to the original plastic mold. I wish I had some good examples.

A dremal will cause mushrooming of plastic, and it is unwieldy to make small cuts at a right angle. A dremel is best for cutting alot of plastic very quickly, but in places that won't be visible. A scalpel gets progressively harder to cut and all of the material that was once in front of your blade is compressing your sides. Also if you keep pressing down you can crack the plastic, or cause whiting. While it doesn't replace the scalpel/exacto/dremal. It certainly complements them.

 

I didn't even know these things existed. Now I want one.