Hi all, is it absolutely essential to use a wet cutter on marble tiles (20mm thick) or could I get away with a good quality diamond blade on my grinder? I shan't have a vast amount of cuts, it's a small area, and as i'm on a correspondingly small price I'm reluctant to fork out for an expensive wet cutter that may never pay for itself. I guess I could hire one, but they're heavy, and the job is up several flights of stairs; also, there is nowhere in the flat to make a splash. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Cheers, Simon.

Better with a wet cutter but a grinder with suitable blade will do the job, albeit dustier, unless you hold a damp sponge against the wheel whilst cutting, if your in the trade or getting into it your going to need one so bite the bullet, get a budget one for now and build up when the jobs come in,register also, you'll get lots of help.

Wet cutter for me, how much experiance have you had with grinders

Hard to beat the water at it,very dusty otherwise !!

Even though you cant splash you will still have to cut out side all that dust going everywhere, get a good mask.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Hi all, is it absolutely essential to use a wet cutter on marble tiles (20mm thick) or could I get away with a good quality diamond blade on my grinder? I shan't have a vast amount of cuts, it's a small area, and as i'm on a correspondingly small price I'm reluctant to fork out for an expensive wet cutter that may never pay for itself. I guess I could hire one, but they're heavy, and the job is up several flights of stairs; also, there is nowhere in the flat to make a splash. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Cheers, Simon.

i use a grinder if its floor tiling wet cutter for the walls alot neater. suppose its what your use to

Originally Posted by nybor62

i use a grinder if its floor tiling wet cutter for the walls alot neater. suppose its what your use to

Sorry, can you explain how it makes a difference, surely neat is neat no matter whether it's floor or wall ????

Think he means that if a cut is going under a skirting board a grinder finish is suitable, whereas if the cut is on a visible wall then the wet saw will leave the neater edge.

Wet cut for me on marble, bridge saw/ flat bed

Wet cutter for me too

Thanks to all of you. Sounds like I should suck it and see; if the grinder does an ok job I'll go with it, if not i'll take Alan's advice and maybe get a £50 Erbauer wet table cutter. I've used a similar model before; messy, slow and very difficult to cut "off square", ie wider at one end than the other. I've long been tempted by the little 12V cordless Makita, but mixed reviews have always put me off. Thanks again, i'll let you know how i get on.

wet cutter all day long

His and hers?

wet cutter, every day of the week

Hello again. Last week I asked for advice on cutting marble with/without water. Many of you were kind enough to respond, with the general consensus that wet cutting was my best option. You were right. I started the floor tiles - 600mm sq, 20mm thick - with a 115mm grinder and "fan edged" Sankyo blade, labelled as specifically recommended for marble. The dust WAS awful, but I was expecting that. The bigger problem was the chipped cut edges. I tried everything; taping the cut line before cutting, (waste of time), cutting the tiles upside down, cutting just a couple of mm deep through the surface and then turning the tile over to cut through the back... Nothing really worked. To be fair, the Sankyo blade was pretty fast, just not clean enough. I actually got slightly better results with an old Norton continuous smooth rim blade, which kinda made me question the "Turbo Fan Edge" design. Unfortunately it was a "patch -in" job; most of the walls had already been tiled, so my cut edges were painfully visible. You've all seen worse, and I just about got away with it, but never again. That evening I paid £150 for a Rubi 180 BL wet table cutter. As pro tools go this is a very budget conscious model, but the difference in use was gob smacking. Slower than the grinder maybe, but by the time I'd given the cut edge a quick tile-file it was hard to tell from the factory edge. For what it's worth, with this machine I actually did get a slightly cleaner edge cutting the tiles upside down; I don't know if this is common practice. I used the blade supplied with the cutter, which was labelled as designed for ceramics, so perhaps a different blade would have given even better results. My thanks to all of you who responded to my original post, and I hope this update isn't too long. Cheers guys, Simon.

I'll give your questions a shot.

1) Not likely, Unless it is very soft and/or very thin. Nippers are for softer tile, like ceramic.

2) outside curves you can be whitled away on the wet saw. On inside curves you use a 4" or 4 1/4" grinder with diamond wheel. mark the curve and follow it with the grinder. take relief cuts as needed. Not too hard, just time consuming.

3) same as number 1). They make special bit for porcelain, stone, etc. $20 to $30 and up for each.


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Originally Posted by aaron.adley

I'll give your questions a shot.

1) Not likely, Unless it is very soft and/or very thin. Nippers are for softer tile, like ceramic.

2) outside curves you can be whitled away on the wet saw. On inside curves you use a 4" or 4 1/4" grinder with diamond wheel. mark the curve and follow it with the grinder. take relief cuts as needed. Not too hard, just time consuming.

3) same as number 1). They make special bit for porcelain, stone, etc. $20 to $30 and up for each.


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Someone is keeping you busy today Liz.............

Hi guys. Can anyone tell me how to cut really hard porcelain tiles. I`m on a bathroom project now and customer requests a mitre cuts. i can`t produce clean cut unless on original edge. using wet saw with Rubi cpc2 blade still doesn`t work. just not smooth enough as should be. Any ideas? thanks. Chris

Why don't you score the the right angles with a dry cutter, then do a 45 degree cut to the right angle of the dry scoring with the wet cutter, then snap with the dry cutter

Thanks Whitebeam. i will have a try on monday. maybe you know which is the best blade providing as clean as possible cut. Cheers

I can truly say this is the best blade i have owned and used..

Montolit DNA Blades
DNA represents the most important innovation and a genuine technological revolution in the field of diamond tools, since the introduction of laser welding in 1980

The diamonds are precisely arranged in individual positions around the circumference of the wheel. Even the orientation of the diamond grains is controlled!

The result is a blade that effortlessly cuts with minimal chipping on a wide range of materials with amazing speed and durability

Suitable for:

- Fantastic on porcelain!
- Quartzite
- Limestone
- Ceramic Tiles
- Terracotta
- Marble
- Travertine
- Granite


Wet cut only

Yes they are expensive - But you get what you pay for!

wet cutter

Originally Posted by Alan.P

Sorry, can you explain how it makes a difference, surely neat is neat no matter whether it's floor or wall ????

as wingn says if its against a wall were skirting will be fitted i use grinder

dave have you got a rough price on them wheels i have got a marcrist on my rubi 180 are they better then them

They eat the marcists for breakfast,, i know coz i have one of them too..

TradeTiler.Ltd Montolit Diamond Wheels

wet cutter only grinder when shaping tiles curves etc!

thanks for your help dave there a bit pricey like but as you say you get what you pay for how long do they last... about

Don't know yet..... only been using it since december.