Hi all,

I'm currently tiling my bathroom with 8x10inch ceramic tiles. I'm a
tiling virgin so I thought I'd make life easier by investing in an
electric tile cutter - and to be honest it's the worst £30 I ever
spent.

I can't for the life of me seem to be able to cut the tiles straight
and true. All I want to do is cut about 15mm from the edge of the
tile. Out of the eight I've put on the wall I've had 5 rejects - and
I'm only happy with the 8 so called successes coz I think I can loose
the cut edges in the corner with grout. On average I'm getting around
a 5mm wander in the cut.

I'm using the plastic guide thing that clips in and using the guide
along the bottom to set the width. Then I push the tile through as
slowly as I can with even pressure from behind. I thought about
putting a line down the tile where I want the cut and trying to guide
the tile with that. But this turned out to be useless as the line gets
covered by red muddy stuff from the tile which gets mixed in with the
water and thrown about by the blade.

I was very suprised to find nobody who is complaining about the same
problems. In fact most people seemt to think they are the best thing
since sliced bread.
If anyone has any ideas why I'm so rubbish at using this thing then
I'd be very grateful for the advice.

Cheers,
Ben

Ben wrote:

I'm currently tiling my bathroom with 8x10inch ceramic tiles. I'm a
tiling virgin so I thought I'd make life easier by investing in an
electric tile cutter - and to be honest it's the worst £30 I ever
spent.

!!!!

I would class mine as about the *best* £30 I ever spent.


I can't for the life of me seem to be able to cut the tiles straight
and true. All I want to do is cut about 15mm from the edge of the
tile. Out of the eight I've put on the wall I've had 5 rejects - and
I'm only happy with the 8 so called successes coz I think I can loose
the cut edges in the corner with grout. On average I'm getting around
a 5mm wander in the cut.

You are, without a doubt, doing something horribly wrong.


I'm using the plastic guide thing that clips in and using the guide
along the bottom to set the width. Then I push the tile through as
slowly as I can with even pressure from behind. I thought about
putting a line down the tile where I want the cut and trying to guide
the tile with that. But this turned out to be useless as the line gets
covered by red muddy stuff from the tile which gets mixed in with the
water and thrown about by the blade.

I don't get it - why do you need a line? You hold the tile against the
fence (the plastic guide thing) and it cuts straight. That's it. Please
explain.


I was very suprised to find nobody who is complaining about the same
problems. In fact most people seemt to think they are the best thing
since sliced bread.

And they really, really are. I've just finished floor-to-ceiling tiling
our shower room, and this is a *superb* tool. I really think you're
doing something wrong.


If anyone has any ideas why I'm so rubbish at using this thing then
I'd be very grateful for the advice.

Need more info. How is it going wrong? Why is it wandering? Is it moving
away from the fence?

--
Grunff

In message , Ben
writes
Hi all,

I'm currently tiling my bathroom with 8x10inch ceramic tiles. I'm a
tiling virgin so I thought I'd make life easier by investing in an
electric tile cutter - and to be honest it's the worst £30 I ever
spent.

I can't for the life of me seem to be able to cut the tiles straight
and true. All I want to do is cut about 15mm from the edge of the
tile.

I'm using the plastic guide thing that clips in and using the guide
along the bottom to set the width. Then I push the tile through as
slowly as I can with even pressure from behind. I thought about
putting a line down the tile where I want the cut and trying to guide
the tile with that. But this turned out to be useless as the line gets
covered by red muddy stuff from the tile which gets mixed in with the
water and thrown about by the blade.

I was very suprised to find nobody who is complaining about the same
problems. In fact most people seemt to think they are the best thing
since sliced bread.

I've never had any real problem with mine. :-)


If anyone has any ideas why I'm so rubbish at using this thing then
I'd be very grateful for the advice.

Hmm, not sure, what exactly is the problem, is it gradually running of
line , or is it at the end or what?

It sounds like the guide isn't staying set properly maybe? - on mine it
clamps at each end and once set doesn't move, is yours like that?
--
Chris French, Leeds

In article , Ben
writes
Hi all,

I'm currently tiling my bathroom with 8x10inch ceramic tiles. I'm a
tiling virgin so I thought I'd make life easier by investing in an
electric tile cutter - and to be honest it's the worst £30 I ever
spent.

I can't for the life of me seem to be able to cut the tiles straight
and true. All I want to do is cut about 15mm from the edge of the
tile. Out of the eight I've put on the wall I've had 5 rejects - and
I'm only happy with the 8 so called successes coz I think I can loose
the cut edges in the corner with grout. On average I'm getting around
a 5mm wander in the cut.

I'm using the plastic guide thing that clips in and using the guide
along the bottom to set the width. Then I push the tile through as
slowly as I can with even pressure from behind. I thought about
putting a line down the tile where I want the cut and trying to guide
the tile with that. But this turned out to be useless as the line gets
covered by red muddy stuff from the tile which gets mixed in with the
water and thrown about by the blade.

I was very suprised to find nobody who is complaining about the same
problems. In fact most people seemt to think they are the best thing
since sliced bread.
If anyone has any ideas why I'm so rubbish at using this thing then
I'd be very grateful for the advice.

You should be pushing the tile up against the guide as you feed it
through...?

I did my kitchen tiles with one of these a couple of months ago and
thought it was great.
--
Tim Mitchell

"Ben" wrote in message
om...
Hi all,

I'm currently tiling my bathroom with 8x10inch ceramic tiles. I'm a
tiling virgin so I thought I'd make life easier by investing in an
electric tile cutter - and to be honest it's the worst £30 I ever
spent.


Bro-in-law's got one and he says it's a Good Thing. Are you trying to cut
too quickly, perhaps?

Si

Grunff wrote:

Ben wrote:

I'm currently tiling my bathroom with 8x10inch ceramic tiles. I'm a
tiling virgin so I thought I'd make life easier by investing in an
electric tile cutter - and to be honest it's the worst £30 I ever
spent.

!!!!

I would class mine as about the *best* £30 I ever spent.


Hmm, I'm about to start tiling in my bathroom and need to do a lot of
cutting. Where do they sell the Plasplugs cutter- is it available in the
sheds?


Cheers, Jim.

Jim Walsh wrote:

Hmm, I'm about to start tiling in my bathroom and need to do a lot of
cutting. Where do they sell the Plasplugs cutter- is it available in the
sheds?

Yes, the sheds keep them. Get one. They're really good.

--
Grunff

In article ,
Ben wrote:
I'm using the plastic guide thing that clips in and using the guide
along the bottom to set the width. Then I push the tile through as
slowly as I can with even pressure from behind. I thought about
putting a line down the tile where I want the cut and trying to guide
the tile with that. But this turned out to be useless as the line gets
covered by red muddy stuff from the tile which gets mixed in with the
water and thrown about by the blade.

First, is the whole machine solidly supported? It needs to hook over a
solid workbench or similar so it can't move - at least until you get used
to it.

Assuming you've fixed the guide correctly and it's square, I'd say it's
how your feeding the tile through. You need to apply pressure as near to
the centre line of the cut as possible, so push the tile through with two
hands, one either side of the 'line' only using enough sideways pressure
to keep it on the guide. If taking a small piece off where this might be
difficult, use the 'pusher' provided on that side.

--
*Any connection between your reality and mine is purely coincidental

Dave Plowman London SW 12
RIP Acorn

In article ,
Jim Walsh wrote:
Hmm, I'm about to start tiling in my bathroom and need to do a lot of
cutting. Where do they sell the Plasplugs cutter- is it available in the
sheds?

Yup. They do several models, but I found the cheapest one fine for normal
stuff, although I've now got a bigger one.
It looks cheap and nasty, being plastic, but seems to work as well or
better than the cheap metal ones that some sheds sell with a chrome top.
And at least it can't rust.

--
*If only you'd use your powers for good instead of evil.

Dave Plowman London SW 12
RIP Acorn

"Ben" wrote in message
om...
Hi all,

I'm currently tiling my bathroom with 8x10inch ceramic tiles. I'm a
tiling virgin so I thought I'd make life easier by investing in an
electric tile cutter - and to be honest it's the worst £30 I ever
spent.

I can't for the life of me seem to be able to cut the tiles straight
and true. All I want to do is cut about 15mm from the edge of the
tile. Out of the eight I've put on the wall I've had 5 rejects - and
I'm only happy with the 8 so called successes coz I think I can loose
the cut edges in the corner with grout. On average I'm getting around
a 5mm wander in the cut.

I'm using the plastic guide thing that clips in and using the guide
along the bottom to set the width. Then I push the tile through as
slowly as I can with even pressure from behind. I thought about
putting a line down the tile where I want the cut and trying to guide
the tile with that. But this turned out to be useless as the line gets
covered by red muddy stuff from the tile which gets mixed in with the
water and thrown about by the blade.

I was very suprised to find nobody who is complaining about the same
problems. In fact most people seemt to think they are the best thing
since sliced bread.
If anyone has any ideas why I'm so rubbish at using this thing then
I'd be very grateful for the advice.

On mine the guide along the bottom (the bit graduated in millimetres) seems
to be a total fiction - I always set the guide with a ruler or from a mark
made on the tile (before switching it on and getting everything spattered
with slushy water :-). The only problems I find with the plastic guide are
(a) getting the clips fastened (they're a bit plasticky) and (b) sometimes
the back end of the guide will be fractionally closer to the blade than the
front end and the tile will either jam when it hits the riving knife (metal
shark's fin behind and in line with the blade) or bind against the blade as
it's going through.

Like everyone else who's replied I can't see how you can be going wrong as
you describe. I certainly wouldn't describe it as the best thing since
sliced bread, but that's because I think sliced bread is crap (discuss ;-)

For what it's worth however, if I'm cutting ordinary glazed wall tiles I
prefer a score+snap cutter which is quicker, less messy and a gives a
cleaner cut. I use the plasplugs cutter when I'm doing floor tiles,
porcelain (or harder - I've cut granite with it!) tiles or have to cut a
smaller bit from a tile than I can do with a score+snap.

Hi all,

Thanks for all the replies. Yeah, I'm mistified as to how I'm getting
this so wrong. I suspect that the problem might be that I'm only
pusing the tile from one side of the blade.

I use the plastic guide and I clamp it in so that it's square. I push
the tile hard up against the guide and turn it on. I then push the
tile through as slowly as I can - using enough even pressure from
behind to keep it moving - that's it.

The problem is that there is gap the width of the blade (obviously)
between the off cut and main part of the tile. What seems to happen is
that the tile (not the off cut) is rotating to try and fill the gap.
This leads to the cut wondering off.

Someone mentioned that there should be a pusher supplied for pushing
the tile on off cut side of the blade - well I don't think I got one
of these. I guess I could make one out of something.

Of course, it could be that I have a duff machine. But I find can't
anything obviously (to me anyway) wrong which is why it's more likley
to be user error.

Last night I went out and got some more tile cutting gizmos - hand
saw, score, snap machine, etc etc. The score and snap machine wrecked
the first attempt. In the end it took me two hours to cut one tile
with the hand saw and file down until it fitted. It was a neat result
but it's gonna be a long job if that's what it's going to take.

Cheers,
Ben

"John Stumbles" wrote in message ...
"Ben" wrote in message
om...
Hi all,

I'm currently tiling my bathroom with 8x10inch ceramic tiles. I'm a
tiling virgin so I thought I'd make life easier by investing in an
electric tile cutter - and to be honest it's the worst £30 I ever
spent.

I can't for the life of me seem to be able to cut the tiles straight
and true. All I want to do is cut about 15mm from the edge of the
tile. Out of the eight I've put on the wall I've had 5 rejects - and
I'm only happy with the 8 so called successes coz I think I can loose
the cut edges in the corner with grout. On average I'm getting around
a 5mm wander in the cut.

I'm using the plastic guide thing that clips in and using the guide
along the bottom to set the width. Then I push the tile through as
slowly as I can with even pressure from behind. I thought about
putting a line down the tile where I want the cut and trying to guide
the tile with that. But this turned out to be useless as the line gets
covered by red muddy stuff from the tile which gets mixed in with the
water and thrown about by the blade.

I was very suprised to find nobody who is complaining about the same
problems. In fact most people seemt to think they are the best thing
since sliced bread.
If anyone has any ideas why I'm so rubbish at using this thing then
I'd be very grateful for the advice.

On mine the guide along the bottom (the bit graduated in millimetres) seems
to be a total fiction - I always set the guide with a ruler or from a mark
made on the tile (before switching it on and getting everything spattered
with slushy water :-). The only problems I find with the plastic guide are
(a) getting the clips fastened (they're a bit plasticky) and (b) sometimes
the back end of the guide will be fractionally closer to the blade than the
front end and the tile will either jam when it hits the riving knife (metal
shark's fin behind and in line with the blade) or bind against the blade as
it's going through.

Like everyone else who's replied I can't see how you can be going wrong as
you describe. I certainly wouldn't describe it as the best thing since
sliced bread, but that's because I think sliced bread is crap (discuss ;-)

For what it's worth however, if I'm cutting ordinary glazed wall tiles I
prefer a score+snap cutter which is quicker, less messy and a gives a
cleaner cut. I use the plasplugs cutter when I'm doing floor tiles,
porcelain (or harder - I've cut granite with it!) tiles or have to cut a
smaller bit from a tile than I can do with a score+snap.

"Ben" wrote in message
om...
Hi all,

I'm currently tiling my bathroom with 8x10inch ceramic tiles. I'm a
tiling virgin so I thought I'd make life easier by investing in an
electric tile cutter - and to be honest it's the worst £30 I ever
spent.

I can't for the life of me seem to be able to cut the tiles straight
and true. All I want to do is cut about 15mm from the edge of the
tile. Out of the eight I've put on the wall I've had 5 rejects - and
I'm only happy with the 8 so called successes coz I think I can loose
the cut edges in the corner with grout. On average I'm getting around
a 5mm wander in the cut.

I'm using the plastic guide thing that clips in and using the guide
along the bottom to set the width. Then I push the tile through as
slowly as I can with even pressure from behind. I thought about
putting a line down the tile where I want the cut and trying to guide
the tile with that. But this turned out to be useless as the line gets
covered by red muddy stuff from the tile which gets mixed in with the
water and thrown about by the blade.

I was very suprised to find nobody who is complaining about the same
problems. In fact most people seemt to think they are the best thing
since sliced bread.
If anyone has any ideas why I'm so rubbish at using this thing then
I'd be very grateful for the advice.

Cheers,
Ben

As with the others here I've had a very good experience with this cuter,
having recently tiled a porch and the bathroom.

The guide needs to be set up carefully to ensure that is set parallel to the
blade, the additional markings on the surface of he machine are good for a
guide.

the small bracket holding the splash guard is pretty flimsy and you need to
ensure that it is correctly aligned with the blade so that the tiles can
pass by it easily.... I took the first one I bought back to B&Q for
replacement before I even used it because the bracket was so bent.

I've managed fine cutting cutting straight lines without the guide as
well... (the tiles were 600mm long) I marked a cutting line in pencil and
took care to line the tile up square with the blade by eye. I didn't use
excessive amounts of water in eth reservoir so that I got a better view of
the cutting line, but do keep topping up the water in this case to ensure
that the wheel stays wet.

I also had to make several cuts similar to yours.. taking off 5 or 10mm
along a 600mm length. In this case the the plastic guide was very useful.
but I also found it useful to have the line marked in pencil as well. I
generally operated with teh splash guard raised 10-15mm above tile, which
while making considerably more mess did allow me to see the pencil cuting
line as a check.

good luck

David

In article , Ben
wrote:

I'm mistified as to how I'm getting
this so wrong.


It's upside down and untrimmed.

See if this helps: http://www.allmyfaqs.com/faq.pl?How_to_post



--
AJL Electronics (G6FGO) Ltd : Satellite and TV aerial systems
http://www.classicmicrocars.co.uk : http://www.ajlelectronics.co.uk

Ben wrote:

I'm currently tiling my bathroom with 8x10inch ceramic tiles. I'm a
tiling virgin so I thought I'd make life easier by investing in an
electric tile cutter - and to be honest it's the worst £30 I ever
spent.

As others have said, you must be doing something very wrong. The first
time I used mine was to trim 5mm from a 15cm tile - I was left with an
2mm wide strip of perfectly intact yet hugely fragile tile material
which impressed me greatly.

I bought it with an immediate job of just 3 tiles in mind - I felt I'd
had my monies worth by the time I'd done the third one!

--
Scott

Where are we going and why am I in this handbasket?

"Grunff" wrote in message
...
Jim Walsh wrote:

Hmm, I'm about to start tiling in my bathroom and need to do a lot of
cutting. Where do they sell the Plasplugs cutter- is it available in the
sheds?

Yes, the sheds keep them. Get one. They're really good.

--
Grunff

I agree - it was only £10 more than the hand version. I've done loads of
wall and floor tiles with it and
haven't lost any due to breakage - only my mis-measurement!

Mal

"Andy Luckman (AJL Electronics)" wrote in message ...

See if this helps: http://www.allmyfaqs.com/faq.pl?How_to_post

umm.. yeah, cheers Andy... very helpful.

*must..* *resist..* *pointless..* *discussion board..* *rant.*

Thanks everyone for your suggestions.. I'll have another crack at it
tonight, and if I haven't thrown it out of the window in dispear, I'll
let you know how it goes.

Cheers,
Ben

In article ,
Scott M wrote:
As others have said, you must be doing something very wrong. The first
time I used mine was to trim 5mm from a 15cm tile - I was left with an
2mm wide strip of perfectly intact yet hugely fragile tile material
which impressed me greatly.

Same here - the idea of cutting a sliver off a tile and getting two usable
bits was a revelation after the score and snap types - let alone being
able to cut a small piece reliably.

--
*The severity of the itch is proportional to the reach *

Dave Plowman London SW 12
RIP Acorn

Hi, a frequent cause of tiles not cutting squarely is that the blade and the
guide are not parallel. I find that my tile cutter needs a 4mm offset
between the two ends of the guide to get a square cut. ie Set bottom of
guide to 6cm, then top end of guide to 6.4cm. Hope this helps.
Regards
Capitol

Well I have to say I didn't bother getting the electric tile cutter
out last night. I found that my new PlasPlugs pro-tiler score and snap
gizmo works great. I get clean cuts quickly and with a whole load less
mess.

However I was cutting larger pieces of tile and I suspect that I may
need resort to using the electric cutting off smaller chunks.

Anyway, thanks again for your suggestions.
Ben

(Ben) wrote in message m...
Well I have to say I didn't bother getting the electric tile cutter
out last night. I found that my new PlasPlugs pro-tiler score and snap
gizmo works great. I get clean cuts quickly and with a whole load less
mess.

However I was cutting larger pieces of tile and I suspect that I may
need resort to using the electric cutting off smaller chunks.

Anyway, thanks again for your suggestions.
Ben

Hi Ben,

I think I know what you are doing wrong;

The piece of tile you want to keep, after the cuttting process, should
be butted up against the fence (plastic straight edge) NOT the part
that will end up as the off-cut.

Otherwise yes the 'part you want' will rotate in to fill the gap left
by the blade (kerf).

Let us know if this helps...

Reader.

In article , Ben
writes
Thanks everyone for your suggestions.. I'll have another crack at it
tonight, and if I haven't thrown it out of the window in dispear, I'll
let you know how it goes.

Cheers,
Ben
I've come in late to this thread Ben but I would concur with the other
relies, I think its the best money I have spent, from what you have
described I think you're not pushing the tile square if its pivoting
around after the cut. I didn't get a tile pusher with mine and don't
think you do, I have not needed one yet (mind you I have only got two
fingers left on each hand now!)
--
David

In article ,
Reader wrote:
The piece of tile you want to keep, after the cuttting process, should
be butted up against the fence (plastic straight edge) NOT the part
that will end up as the off-cut.

On mine it doesn't make any difference. I do it whichever way is more
convenient.

--
*If a pig loses its voice, is it disgruntled?

Dave Plowman London SW 12
RIP Acorn

In message , Ben
writes
Well I have to say I didn't bother getting the electric tile cutter
out last night. I found that my new PlasPlugs pro-tiler score and snap
gizmo works great. I get clean cuts quickly and with a whole load less
mess.


i have one of those and yes it's just as quick, if not quicker as long
as the piece you are cutting off is big enough

However I was cutting larger pieces of tile and I suspect that I may
need resort to using the electric cutting off smaller chunks.

indeed, for trimming of smaller bits, cutting angled cuts, cutting
round awkward shapes etc. the electric cutter is the business
--
Chris French, Leeds

Hi Reader,

The piece of tile you want to keep, after the cuttting process, should
be butted up against the fence (plastic straight edge) NOT the part
that will end up as the off-cut.

You're right, butting the off cut against the fence does cause the
problem. But, in this case the fence would not go on the other side as
the tile was too big.

Last night I did have some success with it. I needed to cut out a slot
for a pipe and so I used the cutter to cut the edges of the slot. This
time I had plenty of tile on both sides of the blade to grab hold of.
I also used a pencil line and minimal water in the tank to prevent
excessive splashing as suggested. And I have to say I got a pretty
cut.

Anyway thanks again for all the help and suggestions.

Cheers,
Ben