ROMECH Foam Cutter Pro Electric Hot Knife, 200W Air Cooled Styrofoam Cutting Tool Kit- with Heavy-duty Case Blades & Accessories RM-009 (200W Air Cooled)

This item works great. Adjustable heat settings, follows and melts a good line either by jig or freehand. I cut 2" styrofoam board with ease, also 1/4" insulation with no problem. It does smoke alot if the heat is too high, which is easily adjustable. It smokes regardless, but you'll know when to turn it down.

Bought this for insulating my garage door. I bought some foam board insulation 1.5" from Lowes. Doesn't fit in my car without cutting up. Using a utility knife or razor blade causes tear out, which leaves a nasty edge that falls apart, which makes a huge mess everywhere. Bought this kit, and an additional 2" blade. (I bought Romech blade but generic blades fit too) Only wish the kit came with a 2" blade as well, as it seemed more practical then the much longer ones included. Also wish the kit had a dedicated slot for storing 2" Blade . I used a drywall square and used a piece of cardboard as a backer, this Hot Knife worked great and made short work of slicing up my foam board insulation into manageable sizes for my garage door. When i got home, i screwed a 2x4 into a scrap of MDF with a factory edge, made myself a straight edge that gripped the foam from 2 sides. This made a great guide for the 2" blade to run vertical and yielded a nice straight edge and 90 degree corners everytime. Make sure you use proper ventilation (i used a Milwaukee M18 Fan with this). Worked best when given 5 second heat up time before starting cut. Unit never got very hot (besides the obviously hot blade that worked great). 100% worth the investment for a project like this. Would recommend or buy again in a heartbeat.

One of the blades arced and burned out not too long after i got it but I'm convinced it's because I allowed the blade to get gummed up with melted plastic. Use the metal wire brush provided to keep the blade clean and free of contaminants!

I bought this so that I could get rid of all the styrofoam collected in packaging over the year. I didn't realize how much of a PITA getting rid of styrofoam packaging or shipping coolers was until I tried to cut them down with a razor knife... what a mess! After reading the reviews on the wire heating cutters, I decided those wouldn't last long (I had a LOT of this stuff to get rid of.). So I bought this because I could, and I like gadgets and tools. This DID NOT DISAPPOINT!First, make sure you use it in a well-ventilated area, as most foam products emit noxious/toxic vapors, so ventilation is a must. Keep positive control of this tool, and be careful where you set it down while using it. It becomes red-hot, and it will do some serious damage to the flesh (but it will also cauterize the wound so you probably won't bleed to death if you do something stupid.)It really does work well, I found myself playing with it as I was cutting down the big foam blocks, experimenting with it; getting creative, and carving alphabet letters and animal silhouettes out of the styrofoam, so I spent two days cutting all of my styrofoam down into little cubes that I can use for packing and shipping, and for use in potting plants in the big containers. It allows me to repurpose the foam instead of just sending it to the dump. Love the tool, it works, and I can pull it out and use it quickly when I have more foam to cut down. No styrofoam beads sticking to everything or to you with this thing.

I own a pack and ship store and I use foam house siding for encasing artwork in to protect it before I put it into a box. Before I was cutting the foam with a regular razor knife and it took a few passes to get through the thick foam. With this knife it is fast and only 1 pass. Works great. One piece of advice is to experiment with the foam you are cutting to get the correct temperature on the blade. You want is hot enough to cut like butter at the lowest setting but not too low that you get a lot of smoke from the foam. If you set it right you can cut the foam with minimal smoke. I have beeen using it for a while now and it is holding up well. Still looks new.

Bought this to cut 8 inch thick foam for some furniture we are making and needed to shorten the length.Cuts like butter.

The knife works well when cutting straight lines especially when starting from the outside edge to outside edge of the foam. If doing a cutout shape, it's hard to insert a hot blade into the foam without melting it and getting a bad look. Best to start from the inside of the cutout and work your way over to the straight line. Forget curves; need a smaller width blade for curves. Also, recommend having a fairly large test piece of foam for practicing (extra of the same foam). Different foam types and densities will cut differently and at different heat levels. A 2" long, narrow width scalpel is best for 2" thick high density foam, etc.

Have used other cutters, and this one is great! Easy assembly, great temperature control, cut through the sheets like a warm knife through butter. Highly recommend. The wire brush pretty much did nothing for cleaning. I ended up using my dremmel with a wire brush attachment to clean the blades better than the included brush.