On Sat, 12 Jul 2003 22:01:35 +0100, michael cane wrote:

now have to cut a complete oblong hole in a single tile to
accomodate the next socket and i have no idea how to do it.

If you are careful and don't mind the spray take the guards of your
plasplugs and lower(*) the tile onto the top of the blade. Indeed ISTR
that this is in TFM.

Be careful to accurately mark both sides of the tile and cut from
underneath. Two sets of marks, the bottom ones so you know where to
start and the top ones so you know where to stop.

(*) Probably best to retain the fence to keep things square and as a
fence when the tile is flat and to "hinge" the tile down onto the
blade.

--
Cheers
Dave. pam is missing e-mail

In article ,
michael cane wrote:
i have been using a plasplugs electric tile cutter with great success
for cutting tiles around sockets etc, but I now have to cut a complete
oblong hole in a single tile to accomodate the next socket and i have no
idea how to do it. Any help much appreciated.

To add to the other suggestions, you can get a ceramic cutting blade for a
jigsaw, but you need one which can run at a slow speed.

--
*I have plenty of talent and vision. I just don't care.

Dave Plowman London SW 12
RIP Acorn

michael cane wrote:

i have been using a plasplugs electric tile cutter with great success for
cutting tiles around sockets etc, but I now have to cut a complete oblong
hole in a single tile to accomodate the next socket and i have no idea how
to do it. Any help much appreciated.




Its a bugger.

You *can* sometimes do it by scoring the outline, and then drilling a
hole in the middle and using a tile nibbler to work outwards.

I think that a small dremel type grinder might do the job as well.

I normally just 'scire and snap' and fir the pieces back afterwards

why spend £50 when he allready has a tool that will do for rectangular holes



"JimM" wrote in message
...
Get a Rotozip type tool and a tile cutting bit, it works fantastically for
this job. I did 6 tiles with cutouts in my bathroom and they look great.
I've got the B&Q version of the Rotozip which was £50

Jim

--
Remove BRAIN before replying
"Dave Liquorice" wrote in message
. 1...
On Sat, 12 Jul 2003 22:01:35 +0100, michael cane wrote:

now have to cut a complete oblong hole in a single tile to
accomodate the next socket and i have no idea how to do it.

If you are careful and don't mind the spray take the guards of your
plasplugs and lower(*) the tile onto the top of the blade. Indeed ISTR
that this is in TFM.

Be careful to accurately mark both sides of the tile and cut from
underneath. Two sets of marks, the bottom ones so you know where to
start and the top ones so you know where to stop.

(*) Probably best to retain the fence to keep things square and as a
fence when the tile is flat and to "hinge" the tile down onto the
blade.

--
Cheers
Dave. pam is missing e-mail

"why spend £50 when he allready has a tool that will do for rectangular
holes"

because it's a case of using the right tool for the job. The wheel cutter
may be able to do it, but you run the risk of breaking tiles (or fingers)
etc The Rotozip is ideally designed for what he wants and the tool can be
used on other projects afterwards. The OP didn't mention anything about
being on a budget







--
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"Frank" wrote in message
...
why spend £50 when he allready has a tool that will do for rectangular
holes



"JimM" wrote in message
...
Get a Rotozip type tool and a tile cutting bit, it works fantastically
for
this job. I did 6 tiles with cutouts in my bathroom and they look great.
I've got the B&Q version of the Rotozip which was £50

Jim

--
Remove BRAIN before replying
"Dave Liquorice" wrote in message
. 1...
On Sat, 12 Jul 2003 22:01:35 +0100, michael cane wrote:

now have to cut a complete oblong hole in a single tile to
accomodate the next socket and i have no idea how to do it.

If you are careful and don't mind the spray take the guards of your
plasplugs and lower(*) the tile onto the top of the blade. Indeed ISTR
that this is in TFM.

Be careful to accurately mark both sides of the tile and cut from
underneath. Two sets of marks, the bottom ones so you know where to
start and the top ones so you know where to stop.

(*) Probably best to retain the fence to keep things square and as a
fence when the tile is flat and to "hinge" the tile down onto the
blade.

--
Cheers

Dave. pam is missing
e-mail

I've just done this. Rectangular hole in single tile, and through plaster
board underneath.

Drill hole in each corner of the rectangle (DO NOT USE HAMMER ACTION). Apply
moderate pressure useing a masonry drill bit (I was using SDS bits) until
the glaze is removed from the tile. It is then possible to increase the
pressure a little.

Use ceramic cutting blade in jigsaw.

The trick - hot melt glue corrugated cardboard to the base plate of your
jigsaw to protect the tile. It comes off easily afterward.

Cut from one corner to the next.

Total took about 20 minutes. (including preparation)

--
Tony Collins



"michael cane" wrote in message
...
i have been using a plasplugs electric tile cutter with great success for
cutting tiles around sockets etc, but I now have to cut a complete oblong
hole in a single tile to accomodate the next socket and i have no idea how
to do it. Any help much appreciated.

a tile cutter is the right tool for cuttilg tiles

If Rotozips are so good, why dont they sell them anymore in this country,
even all the other makes of spiral saws are slowly disapearing



"JimM" wrote in message
...
"why spend £50 when he allready has a tool that will do for rectangular
holes"

because it's a case of using the right tool for the job. The wheel cutter
may be able to do it, but you run the risk of breaking tiles (or fingers)
etc The Rotozip is ideally designed for what he wants and the tool can be
used on other projects afterwards. The OP didn't mention anything about
being on a budget







--
Remove BRAIN before replying
"Frank" wrote in message
...
why spend £50 when he allready has a tool that will do for rectangular
holes



"JimM" wrote in message
...
Get a Rotozip type tool and a tile cutting bit, it works fantastically
for
this job. I did 6 tiles with cutouts in my bathroom and they look
great.
I've got the B&Q version of the Rotozip which was £50

Jim

--
Remove BRAIN before replying
"Dave Liquorice" wrote in message
. 1...
On Sat, 12 Jul 2003 22:01:35 +0100, michael cane wrote:

now have to cut a complete oblong hole in a single tile to
accomodate the next socket and i have no idea how to do it.

If you are careful and don't mind the spray take the guards of your
plasplugs and lower(*) the tile onto the top of the blade. Indeed
ISTR
that this is in TFM.

Be careful to accurately mark both sides of the tile and cut from
underneath. Two sets of marks, the bottom ones so you know where to
start and the top ones so you know where to stop.

(*) Probably best to retain the fence to keep things square and as a
fence when the tile is flat and to "hinge" the tile down onto the
blade.

--
Cheers

Dave. pam is missing
e-mail

Also - what are they like for handling the dust created by tiles? When I
used a jigsaw cutter I was worried by the amount of dust that ended up
inside it - hate to think what any bearings etc would have got inside them.
Still, it was a cheapo one, so I'm not too worried.

(sorry about the top post - too difficult to convert it all to bottom
posting)

D

"Frank" wrote in message
...
a tile cutter is the right tool for cuttilg tiles

If Rotozips are so good, why dont they sell them anymore in this country,
even all the other makes of spiral saws are slowly disapearing



"JimM" wrote in message
...
"why spend £50 when he allready has a tool that will do for rectangular
holes"

because it's a case of using the right tool for the job. The wheel
cutter
may be able to do it, but you run the risk of breaking tiles (or
fingers)
etc The Rotozip is ideally designed for what he wants and the tool can
be
used on other projects afterwards. The OP didn't mention anything about
being on a budget







--
Remove BRAIN before replying
"Frank" wrote in message
...
why spend £50 when he allready has a tool that will do for rectangular
holes



"JimM" wrote in message
...
Get a Rotozip type tool and a tile cutting bit, it works
fantastically
for
this job. I did 6 tiles with cutouts in my bathroom and they look
great.
I've got the B&Q version of the Rotozip which was £50

Jim

--
Remove BRAIN before replying
"Dave Liquorice" wrote in message
. 1...
On Sat, 12 Jul 2003 22:01:35 +0100, michael cane wrote:

now have to cut a complete oblong hole in a single tile to
accomodate the next socket and i have no idea how to do it.

If you are careful and don't mind the spray take the guards of
your
plasplugs and lower(*) the tile onto the top of the blade. Indeed
ISTR
that this is in TFM.

Be careful to accurately mark both sides of the tile and cut from
underneath. Two sets of marks, the bottom ones so you know where
to
start and the top ones so you know where to stop.

(*) Probably best to retain the fence to keep things square and as
a
fence when the tile is flat and to "hinge" the tile down onto the
blade.

--
Cheers

Dave. pam is missing
e-mail

"Dave Plowman" wrote in message
...
In article ,
michael cane wrote:
i have been using a plasplugs electric tile cutter with great success
for cutting tiles around sockets etc, but I now have to cut a complete
oblong hole in a single tile to accomodate the next socket and i have no
idea how to do it. Any help much appreciated.

To add to the other suggestions, you can get a ceramic cutting blade for a
jigsaw, but you need one which can run at a slow speed.


First time I used one of these blades it was in a rubbish old single-speed
jigsaw and (to my surprise) worked OK


--
John Stumbles
-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
-+
Cannibalize Legalists

Without getting into a flaming war, I agree that a tile cutter
is perfect
for cutting straight lines in tiles, it's what I used for 95%
of the cut
tiles in our bathroom. However it is crap for cutting curves,
intricate
mouldings and cutting sections from the centre of a tile. It's
horses for

Actually, you can do a good job of moderately intricate shapes
with a table saw type cutter.

Draw the shape on the tile surface. Run a scribe over the line.
Cut at 90 degrees to the line, dividing the waste into a series
of fingers cut just short (about 0.5 - 1mm) of the line. Keep
dividing the fingers so they get thinner and thinner. Eventually
they either snap off or you can take them off near the base with
a slight sideways movement of the tile. You can then tidy to
within a hairsbreadth of the line using the cutter to nibble off
the high points.

The final step is to use abrasive paper, rolled into a tight
cylinder if necessary.

It ain't fast, but it's fast enough for a few tiles. It takes
fine control and close observation (wear safety specs) but it's
do-able and the results are good, especially when you've done a
few.

No help to the OP though.

W.

In article ,
John Stumbles ] wrote:
To add to the other suggestions, you can get a ceramic cutting blade
for a jigsaw, but you need one which can run at a slow speed.


First time I used one of these blades it was in a rubbish old
single-speed jigsaw and (to my surprise) worked OK

It will work, but will wear out fast. Not good at the price. If you can
use water as a lubricant *safely* then this should help.

--
*Why do we say something is out of whack? What is a whack? *

Dave Plowman London SW 12
RIP Acorn

"JimM" wrote in message
...
Without getting into a flaming war, I agree that a tile cutter is perfect
for cutting straight lines in tiles, it's what I used for 95% of the cut
tiles in our bathroom. However it is crap for cutting curves, intricate
mouldings and cutting sections from the centre of a tile. It's horses for
courses, like asking what do you use to cut a kitchen worktop - a handsaw
will do it, but a router would be a better solution.

As to why Rotozip have stopped being sold - perhaps people don't recognise
a
good thing when they see it To be slightly less tongue in cheek it was
probably to do with the fact that they were stupidly over priced when they
were first launched and promoted with a hopeless TV ad. I've found mine to
be quite useful although probably not an essential.

If £50 is too much for someone to spend on an additional tool then I don't
have a problem with that. In my case the tiles I liked were not available
with the size of cutout I liked, the next nearest size were £15 each. I
bought plain tiles did the cutouts myself and actually saved money.

B&Q have just brought out a newer version of their version of the Rotozip,
the PP Pro Trim Cutter. 700w and big and beafy with, from memory, a router
base attachment, circle cutter and an angle grinder attachment, for £60.
Looks a "very" good deal. The angle grinder attachment I would consider
novel rather than essential as £15 gets you a bigger and real one. They
have also brought out a 700w lazer-line jig saw for about £50-60 that looks
very good, and a few other new items. All these come with a 3 year
guarantee. The 1400w PP Pro circular saw, at about £60-70, looks very well
made.




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"Frank" wrote in message
...
a tile cutter is the right tool for cuttilg tiles

If Rotozips are so good, why dont they sell them anymore in this country,
even all the other makes of spiral saws are slowly disapearing

See my post on the new PP Pro.



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"geoff" wrote in message
...
In message , Frank
writes
a tile cutter is the right tool for cuttilg tiles

If Rotozips are so good, why dont they sell them anymore in this country,
even all the other makes of spiral saws are slowly disapearing

Because they were bought out and closed down

Do you mean they were profitable, and a competitor decided to get them out
of the way?


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"JimM" wrote in message
...
Without getting into a flaming war, I agree that a tile cutter is perfect
for cutting straight lines in tiles, it's what I used for 95% of the cut
tiles in our bathroom. However it is crap for cutting curves, intricate
mouldings and cutting sections from the centre of a tile. It's horses for
courses, like asking what do you use to cut a kitchen worktop - a handsaw
will do it, but a router would be a better solution.

As to why Rotozip have stopped being sold - perhaps people don't recognise
a
good thing when they see it To be slightly less tongue in cheek it was
probably to do with the fact that they were stupidly over priced when they
were first launched and promoted with a hopeless TV ad. I've found mine to
be quite useful although probably not an essential.

If £50 is too much for someone to spend on an additional tool then I don't
have a problem with that. In my case the tiles I liked were not available
with the size of cutout I liked, the next nearest size were £15 each. I
bought plain tiles did the cutouts myself and actually saved money.


Possibly safety? I have the equivalent of the Ferm that is sold by Screwfix.
I have only used it once and managed to break - very easily I would add -
three bits. A bit rotating at 30000 rpm is a pretty violent projectile.
Fortunately I had chosen to wear safety goggles and protective gloves so
would probably have been uninjured had I been hit. But then I've had H&S
training - Joe Public in the main will not have and would probably not think
of it in any other way than like an electric drill.


--
Woody

In message , IMM
writes

"geoff" wrote in message
...
In message , Frank
writes
a tile cutter is the right tool for cuttilg tiles

If Rotozips are so good, why dont they sell them anymore in this country,
even all the other makes of spiral saws are slowly disapearing

Because they were bought out and closed down

Do you mean they were profitable, and a competitor decided to get them out
of the way?

Something like that I presume

--
geoff

geoff wrote in message ...
Because they were bought out and closed down

No, Rotozip set up a UK operation, bought out Minicraft and then
closed down both Minicraft and the UK rotozip operation. Rotozip (the
original US company) is still in business and hasn't been bought out.
Maybe there just wasn't the demand for a UK voltage version.

Search the archive for "Rotozip" and read my previous posts with
quotes from Rotozip.

Andrew

Andrew wrote:

"Tony Collins" wrote in message ...
I've just done this. Rectangular hole in single tile, and through plaster
board underneath.

Drill hole in each corner of the rectangle (DO NOT USE HAMMER ACTION).


I've often used hammer action to drill tiles for fitting showers,
towel rails, etc., having first used an automatic centre punch to
punch through the glaze and stop the drill bit slipping. This is with
an ordinary B&D hammer, not SDS. I guess it depends on the exact
composition of the tile (Most have been bog standard, mass produced,
put up by the builder types) and what's supporting it behind. I've
never cracked or broken a tile doing this.


I'm surprised. Automatic centre punches are one thing used by car
thieves to break side windows (more discrete than lobbing a brick). I
would have expected the sudden, very high, shock to crack, if not
shatter, a tile.

What am I doing wrong ;-)

Andrew

"IMM" wrote in message ...
"Andrew" wrote in message
om...
geoff wrote in message
...
Because they were bought out and closed down

No, Rotozip set up a UK operation, bought out Minicraft and then
closed down both Minicraft and the UK rotozip operation. Rotozip (the
original US company) is still in business and hasn't been bought out.
Maybe there just wasn't the demand for a UK voltage version.

Look at the PP pro version at 1/2 the price and you see why a Yankee made
machine can't sell here. Rotozips are "handy" rather than essential and no
one is going to pay £100 just to try one out. Few professionals took them
up, unlike in the USA. I have the PP pro version and they are "very" handy,
becoming an essential.


Just spotted in the latest Argos catalogue, the Rotozip Rebel (550W,
33,000rpm).

http://tinyurl.com/i76v

The circle cutter, straight guide, and 10-pce bit pack, are also
available, but only from Argos Extra stores (the machine itself is
available from all).



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In article ,
Parish wrote:
Just spotted in the latest Argos catalogue, the Rotozip Rebel (550W,
33,000rpm).

There's one on eBay with a 'buy it now' price of 10 quid.

--
*If a mute swears, does his mother wash his hands with soap?

Dave Plowman London SW 12
RIP Acorn

Jon Weaver wrote:
Just spotted in the latest Argos catalogue, the Rotozip Rebel (550W,
33,000rpm).

http://tinyurl.com/i76v


Not sure if this is old news, but Argos are now selling it for £29.99
(From their new Autumn/Winter cataloge).. For £30, its got to be worth
getting one!!

You didn't follow the link in the message that you replied too, did you :-)