Weller RCT Rope Cutting Tip for Soldering Gun, 1.66

I purchased this tip for 3 reasons:1) I need to cut nylon and polypropylene rope2) I already owned a Weller soldering gun, and3) I really wanted a nice rope cutting tool like this:Pearson Electric Rope Cutter, but couldn't possibly justify the price for my needs.Once I got it, I found that it does exactly what you think it does: it cuts rope, and does so relatively well. Once it's hot, it cuts through both nylon and polypropylene rope, even fairly heavy rope, with relative ease - and nicely melts both ends to seal and prevent fraying/unraveling of the rope.Besides that it does what it's supposed to do, another positive is that it's much safer than using a match, lighter, candle, or torch to melt and seal the ends of the rope. Nobody really enjoys having hot liquid nylon drip onto their bare skin!There are a few things that you should be aware of:1) It takes a little while (perhaps 45-60 seconds) for the tip to heat up to good working temperature from a cold start. I am sometimes impatient, and forget this... but if I prepare my work correctly, I'll get the tip hot and do several cuts consecutively while holding the gun trigger to keep it hot.2) Over time, I have found that it tends to collect burnt rope residue. This was a minor annoyance at best, however - it takes just a few seconds to scrape the hot blade with a flat-bladed screwdriver to clean it for further use.3) It requires some degree of coordination to hold a rope to be cut with one hand, and the soldering gun with this tip in the other hand, and to make good clean cuts. But if I was able to do it, most people should also be successful. Some people may find better success laying the rope to be cut on a piece of scrap wood, so they can cut through with this tip and risk only heat marks on the scrap.If you have large volumes of rope cutting to do and/or will use the tool on a daily basis, I can strongly recommend the rope cutter I linked to above - it's great. But if you already own a soldering gun and will use it only occasionally - this could be just the tool for you. For the price, why not give it a try?It was definitely worth it for me!

I use rope and knots for pretty much everything, and though the whole tape + cut + lighter method works okay, the resulting cuts can be inconsistent and require 'tiding up.' Not wanting to pay for a dedicated unit to cut rope, I picked this up to use in my older Craftsman 1,500 watt soldering gun and honestly I can't see myself ever going back to the old way of cutting rope unless I'm in the field.I've read some reviews where people say it works great but it's difficult to hold the rope and press the trigger on the soldering gun to make even cuts and that is true. I've found that, for me, the best method to use this is by wrapping the trigger with rubber band or something similar to keep it depressed, then plugging the soldering gun into a momentary trigger foot switch. Then I can just press the foot switch each time I need to cut the rope, allowing the use of both my hands.

This cut the nylon ropes the I use pretty darn good, but you do have to read the manual to maintain that good and fast sealing/cutting of the nylon/paracord etc. Let it cool first and use a steel brush to get the hardened plastic/nylon off.

This tip works just fine, it cuts poly line quickly and efficiently. The fitting issue noted in other reviews could be a problem for some. My Weller 8200 soldering gun is over 40 years old. For that version the ends of the tips that go into the gun have to be bent (after slipping the locking nuts over the ends). This is easy for the copper soldering tip but the rope cutting tip is steel and is pretty hard to bend. Vice grips or a vice should do the job. Once bent, the locking nuts won't come off the tip without straightening the ends and this is much harder than bending them. For the moment I have lost the soldering gun capability. Maybe newer versions have some kind of compression nut that will eliminating the bending. I put in a call to Weller to find out but never heard back.

Makes nice clean, flat cuts on synthetic ropes and webbing. No more rough ends from flames.

Works perfectly on the Weller soldering gun.

Simple, nicely made item well worth it if you end up cutting synthetic lines (shoe laces, ropes, etc.) with any frequency.

Works great! No frayed ends.