Latest version so far... I think all suggestions have been
incoroprated one way or another (except the ones that belong in the
related product review article)


NT



There are several options for cutting tiles.

===Score & Snap Machines===
* Faster than diamond blade saws
* Significant waste due to tile breakage, though the better oones do
much better
* The cut edge of the tile is sharp, a stroke or 2 with a carborundum
stone makes it safe.
* Machines that need the tile repositioned between score and snap
operations are hard to line up correctly, resulting in even more
breakage & waste
* can't cut narrow strips, minimum size is anywhere from 0.5" - 2" to
avoid breakage.
* The size of the machine limits the size of tile that can be worked
on, especially with diagonal cuts.
* Won't cut some types of tile, eg friable tiles like travertine
marble, or heavy textured tiles.
* Quality and longevity of machines varies. One contributor recommends
Montolit.


===Hand held scorers===
These are just a handle with a piece of sharp Tungsten Carbide (TC) or
a steel wheel.
* Lowest cost tile cutter
* not recommended on uk.d-i-y
* Snapping pressure tends not to follow the score accurately, causing
more breakage loss than with the score and snap machines.
* steel cutting wheels are replaceable, TC bits are regrindable with
care and a diamond disc

Cutting:
# Pencil the cut line
# place a straight edge on the tile
# Score
# Put the scored line sitting on matchsticks
# snap tile. Pressing right over the score line causes less breakage


===Diamond table saws===
* These cut tiles quite quickly, but never as fast as score & snap.
* There is close to zero wastage due to breaking
* Thin tile strips can be cut no problem
* Wet diamond tile saws are very noisy when cutting a tile, use ear
protection
* The cut edge is safe rather than sharp
* The typical £30-50 cost soon pays for itself in tile savings
* Usually the table tilts to enable angled cuts
* When close to the end of the cut, to avoid a snapped corner its
necessary to reduce tile speed greatly and apply even force very
gently to both sides of the tile. This should yield a perfect cut
* Another method is to use a bit of tile offcut as a pusher, and push
on the tile being cut where the blade will come to.
* Cuts at an angle can be done by just following a pencil line by eye
* A pencil line may be washed off during cutting, a chinagraph pencil
or waterproof marker solves this.
* For straight cuts, the fence is used
* For repeated precision angled cuts, make a tile holder using a thin
piece of board and either a few [[screws]] to put the tile against, or
a strip of wood as a stop.
* Blade cutting rather than score & snap is a necessity for marble
* recomended for porcelain
* These saws produce water spray, especially as the blade spins down,
making a minor mess.
* There are water recirculating designs and non recirculating designs,
hopefully someone will explain the difference
* These readily produce relatively complex shaped cuts, including
notches, L shape cuts, curves etc.
* Some recommend using the machine on a dust sheet to prevent dirty
water staining floor coverings.
* Keep a cloth nearby to wipe ceramic and water slurry off the cut
tile.
* Eye protection is recommended, but often ignored
* Sitting the machine in a 50x50cm plant tray can help contain the
mess.

These saws can generally also be used to cut
* concrete slabs
* stone slabs
* marble
* roof tiles
* fossils
* lumps of quartz for decoration
* flints for decorative walling, etc
* All metals
* sharpening & grinding tiny items only
* attempts at cutting used glass just about worked, but badly


===Larger Diamond blade saws===
* A sliding cutting head makes angled cuts easier
* Sliding table saws work well too.

===Manual saws===
Abrasive grit hand [[saw]]s can cut just about any shape, so are used
for the most difficult cuts. Not many tiling jobs need this though.


===Hammer===
A hammer has one tile cutting application, and that's to produce
mosaic tiles. Place whole or part tiles upside down, cover with a
cloth, and bash with a hammer. The mix of resulting shapes is well
suited to artistic work. Very sharp edges sometimes occur, don't
handle carelessly.

If what you want is a square matrix of mosaic tiles, buying them ready
stuck to string backing is a lot quicker to work with.


===Others===
[[Angle grinder]]s in a stand are sometimes used to cut tiles. These
setups are far from ideal, and the blade can easily overheat, causing
blade buckling & tile breakage. There is also no way to easily slide
the tile, no guarding, no alignment scales etc. Not really
recommended.

Free hand grinders have also been used, sometimes with a good result.
These have similar downsides.

[[Die grinder]]s are also used to cut tiles, within limits. Progress
is very slow, and doing lots of tiles this way isn't practical. Used
in combination with a score and snap machine for making L shaped cuts.
Use the grinder for the shorter cut, then score and snap the long cut.
The tool pieces to use are diamond cutting disc and abrasive stone.



==See Also==
* [[Drill bit|Drilling tiles]]
* [[Tile cutter review]]
* [[Special:Allpages|Wiki Contents]]
* [[Special:Categories|Wiki Subject Categories]]



[[Category:Tiling]]
[[Category:Tools]]