HOZO Neoblade ultrasonic hobby knife review – cuts through hobby stuff like butter
What is it?
The HOZO Neoblade ultrasonic hobby knife is a rechargeable hobby knife that cuts through a variety of materials with ease thanks to ultrasonic vibrations. An active cooling fan keeps the knife running through the inevitable heat generated by said vibrations, and up to 40 watts of cutting power can get through materials ranging from plastic to leather to wood (and everything in between).
What’s included?
HOZO Neoblade ultrasonic hobby knife
6 blade sample kit (6 various shapes)
Charging dock (included with Creator and Premium combos)
Blade collection (Included with Creator combo – 70 total blades, 6 types)
Tech specs
Dimensions: 224x33x26mm(8.8×1.3×1.0 inch)
Materials: Aluminium Alloy,NyLon+Fiber Glass,ABS
Operating Temp: 0-60°C
Frequency: 40,000Hz
Power Rate: 9W-40W (Adaptive)
Cooling: Vortex Fan
Fan Speed: 13,000RPM
Charging Voltage: 7.4V
Battery Capacity: 2*1300mAh
Charging Method: TurboDock/PD USB-C 12V 2.5A
Charging Time: Fast Charging-30min/Wired Charging-60min
Design and features
The HOZO Neoblade ultrasonic hobby knife looks like a hobby knife with a toddler-friendly grip wrapped around it (I’m deep in toddler world with an active 3-year-old consuming most of my time these days). The build quality on the review unit sent to me feels good. The aluminum casing didn’t get hot even with extended use thanks to the cooling fan.
The business end of the knife has a multifunction power switch – slide away from the blade for continuous use, or press inwards and hold for temporary use. It does shut off after a few minutes if used continuously for safety.
The battery pack (2 included in all combo options) twists on and off, and this twist action includes a physical on/off switch for extra safety (if the battery is in the off position, you can’t accidentally trigger the ultrasonic cutter, though you still want to be careful with the sharp blade). There’s a USB-C charging port on the Neoblade itself, as well as metal pins to charge in the optional charging dock.
Speaking of the charging dock, the Premium and Creator combos include this dock, which stores and charges both the HOZO Neoblade ultrasonic hobby knife as well as the extra battery. This is very handy, as you can use the knife while the other battery charges, and then swap them out as needed. Charging is sped up from 60 minutes with the USB-C cable to 30 minutes in the dock as well.
Finally, HOZO sent some sample blades along with the Premium combo for testing, including a 20 pack of standard blades. The magnetic dispensor is quite handy, and there’s a safe disposal slot as well in the top of the dispensor. Changing blades is easy and fast with the included blade change tool, and replacement packs are $29 shipped for 20 blades (at time of review).
Assembly, Installation, Setup
Setup is as simple as charging the HOZO Neoblade ultrasonic hobby knife with the USB-C cable or in the dock, depending on which you select.
There are status LED lights that show charge state for the knife as well as the backup battery, which is handy.
Performance
I tested the HOZO Neoblade ultrasonic hobby knife with a variety of materials including paper, cardboard, plastic (3D printed plastic models in PLA and PETG), and even wood. For all of those materials the HOZO Neoblade ultrasonic hobby knife cut right through (unless they were thick). For most materials, the knife slides right through like butter. Plastic was the exception, where it melted more than cut, sometimes creating globby messes as it went. It cut right through plastic with no issues, but getting the cut pieces away from the rest of the plastic can get tricky, depending on the model. I often had the cut pieces just re-melt in a different spot while trying to get them off. I was a bit bummed about this, as cleaning up 3D printed plastic models is my primary use case for this knife, but it will be nice to have in the shop for all sorts of other projects in the future.