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==Score & snap Machines==
* Faster than diamond blade saws
* Significant waste due to tile breakage
* 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.


==Hand held scorers==
These are just a handle with a piece of sharp Tungsten Carbide (TC) or
a steel wheel.
* Lowest cost tile cutter
* 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 straight edge on tile
# Score
# ? tap to propagate crack?
# 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
* All 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 for external corners,
avoiding obstacles, and compound mitre 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
* Cuts at an angle can be done by just following a pencil line by eye
* 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.
* recomended for porcelain or marble

* 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?
? glass cutting?


===Erbauer===
* Does the job no problem
* Minimal [[water]] spray, even with the guard up
* Comes with a 45 degree cutting tile holder
* On off switch is a bit fiddly
* Comes with an [[RCD]] plug
* Fence has to be adjusted and [[clamp]]ed at both ends separately
* Fence can be adjusted to a different setting each end for out of
true cuts
* The ruler strips that help you line the [[fence]] up aren't
accurately positioned
* The ruler strips quickly peel off, this is really not helpful.
* more than powerful enough


===Plasplugs===
===Topps===

==Larger Diamond blade saws==
* Sliding cutting head blade makes angled cuts easier


==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.


==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.

Its even possible to cut a tile with a [[die grinder]], but not very
practical. Progress is very slow, and its only useful if you already
have a die grinder but no better tool, and just have one tile to cut,
eg for a repair. The tool pieces to use are diamond cutting disc and
abrasive stone.


NT