I have searched through previous postings and would agree that a
powered tile cutter with water bath is *probably* the way to go, BUT,
before I spend the cash can anyone suggest where I am going wrong. I
have a limited supply of expensive 300x300 floor tiles and apart from
about 20 half cuts I have a similar number where I need to take off
straight 20 - 30mm cuts. I have tried this with an angle grinder and I
find that the corners are breaking off and even one or two have
produced a smooth curved break about a third of the way in to the
cutting line.
I have obtained similar results(?) with standard stone discs and a
diamond blade. I am just curious to know if there is a particular
technique as I even made a few practice cuts on some old floor tiles
and everything was fine. I have been cutting the narrow strips first as
I can at least re-use the damaged tiles but I cannot afford the loss of
the half cut tiles as supply is a nightmare.

Thanks

Ken

Thanks Steve,

"The smooth curved break" etc.

So thats the technical name for it, earlier on I simply referred to it
as, you, $$%%&&**!!

Since my last post I have been looking at the various cutters etc and I
noticed that there is a specific 'continuous edge' diamond disc for
"tile cutting". This may be partly my own fault as I had a general
purpose diamond disc which I was using in my first attempts. I should
have included that my tiles are porcelain type.

I think I'll go for one of the powered cutters, plasplugs or similar as
the =A340 or so should be recouped during future kitchen and bathroom
renovations.

Many thanks

Ken

"Steve Firth" wrote in message
.. .
wrote:

I have tried this with an angle grinder and I
find that the corners are breaking off and even one or two have
produced a smooth curved break about a third of the way in to the
cutting line.

The smooth curved break is a conchoidal fracture it's a characteristic
of ceramics and glasses to break in this way. The cause is that you are
trying to cut the tiles with an angle grinder. If you must do it using
an angle grinder then you need to a use a diamond disc, if you are
breaking the tiles as described witha diamond disc then it is a matter
of technique. You need to hold the disk vertical and to move it along
the length of the cut. Any twisting action (which is what I suspect is
happening) will cause a fracture as the disc bind in the cut and snaps
the tile.

From experience, even a diamond disk in an angle grinder produces poor
results, with the blade overheating (aka white-hot). A simple water-trough /
rotary diamond disk cutter (entry level = £30 from sheds) works wonders. For
full-sized straight cuts then a "contractors" (in Plasplug speak)
draw-and-snap style cutter is very effective. Tiled the kitchen floor, maybe
knackered one or two tiles learning how to use the tools. Tried plenty of
"cheap" work-arounds - non of which worked, in the end, spending a few quid
on half decent tools was worth every penny.

Regards

In article ,
Steve Firth wrote:
The smooth curved break is a conchoidal fracture it's a characteristic
of ceramics and glasses to break in this way. The cause is that you are
trying to cut the tiles with an angle grinder. If you must do it using
an angle grinder then you need to a use a diamond disc, if you are
breaking the tiles as described witha diamond disc then it is a matter
of technique. You need to hold the disk vertical and to move it along
the length of the cut. Any twisting action (which is what I suspect is
happening) will cause a fracture as the disc bind in the cut and snaps
the tile.

I'd say it's near impossible to keep it square by hand. You might get away
by using one of those angle grinder stands, but for what a proper diamond
wheel wet tile cutter costs, it's not worth the risk if the tiles are
valuable.

--
*Do infants enjoy infancy as much as adults enjoy adultery? *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

keng wrote:

Since my last post I have been looking at the various cutters etc and I
noticed that there is a specific 'continuous edge' diamond disc for
"tile cutting". This may be partly my own fault as I had a general
purpose diamond disc which I was using in my first attempts. I should
have included that my tiles are porcelain type.

There's a whole world of difference between porcelain and ceramic tiles.
Porcelain tiles are much, much harder to cut. I did all the cuts for our
kitchen floor (pocelain) using the Plasplugs cutter. The trick is to go
slow. Don't try to force the cut at all.

As a rough estimate, I reckon a 30cm ceramic tile takes maybe 15-30
seconds to cut, whereas a 30cm porcelain tile (ours are ~8mm thick)
takes 2-3 minutes.


--
Grunff

In article .com,
writes:
I have searched through previous postings and would agree that a
powered tile cutter with water bath is *probably* the way to go, BUT,
before I spend the cash can anyone suggest where I am going wrong. I
have a limited supply of expensive 300x300 floor tiles and apart from
about 20 half cuts I have a similar number where I need to take off
straight 20 - 30mm cuts. I have tried this with an angle grinder and I
find that the corners are breaking off and even one or two have
produced a smooth curved break about a third of the way in to the
cutting line.
I have obtained similar results(?) with standard stone discs and a
diamond blade. I am just curious to know if there is a particular
technique as I even made a few practice cuts on some old floor tiles
and everything was fine. I have been cutting the narrow strips first as
I can at least re-use the damaged tiles but I cannot afford the loss of
the half cut tiles as supply is a nightmare.

I cut mine with the type of cutter with a wheel which you run up
and down the glazed side a few times. It wasn't actually up to the
job, but it worked fine if you did this, and then put the tile in
the jaws of the B&W workmate with the scratch flush with the top,
and thumped it with your fist. I did lots of 20mm slices this way,
and very few broke in the wrong places. If I actually used the
wheel cutter to do the bending/fracturing of the tile (as you are
supposed to), all that happened is the tile stayed in one piece,
and the tool bent;-).

I used an angle grinder for nibbling away special shapes where
required. This would sometimes break the tile, I think through
stress caused by differential heating as it can get very hot (red
hot and more) in the area where the angle grinder is cutting.

--
Andrew Gabriel