Tile cutter review has now been split into Tile cutter and a separate
review page for the various models.

more feedback welcome... and maybe someone know something about
recirculating vs non recirculating water cutters?


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
* 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
* 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
* 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

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]]

Comment for diamond table saws:
I use mine in a large plant pot tray - 550mm square - which has a lip all
the way round to keep water and muck in, and also the waste bits of tile.
I also use a waste bit of tile as a 'pusher' (much as you would use a bit of
waste wood with a bench circular saw) for the last bit of the cut.
It doesn't matter if you cut into your 'pusher' and it does prevent the
final corner of the cut breaking off.

*******************
"NT" wrote in message
...
Tile cutter review has now been split into Tile cutter and a separate
review page for the various models.

more feedback welcome... and maybe someone know something about
recirculating vs non recirculating water cutters?


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
* 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
* 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
* 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

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]]

===Score & Snap Machines===

* Significant waste due to tile breakage, though the better oones do
much better

I wonder how many tiles TimS broke, having never used one before

Stuart Noble
wibbled on Thursday 24 September 2009 19:38


===Score & Snap Machines===

* Significant waste due to tile breakage, though the better oones do
much better

I wonder how many tiles TimS broke, having never used one before

Technically broke none out of an actual job with about 30 tiles.

I broke one test cut seeing how thin I could go and I redid one actual tile
on the floor because I didn't like how it turned out - that was more of a
marking up problem, not a machine problem.

I will qualify that I have a fairlyt decent score'n'snap machine (Rubi Star
40).

--
Tim Watts

This space intentionally left blank...

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]]