1st Job: cutting porcelain help required

[herny80]

Hi, I have my first porcelain tile job starting next week. I have a rubi 600 tile cutter and only a cheap 600w wet cutter with a basic diamond blade. they have done the job so far but I am worried that I wont be able to cut the tile. Does anybody know if these will do the job. its a kitchen wall so there are plenty of plug sockets to cut around.
Do i need a better blade? will 600w motor be enough?

Any advise appreciated thanks.

[grumpygrouter]

My briccolina cuts porcelain and it only has 330w. It is the blade really that is more important. With a lower power motor you just have to cut more slowly.

[cjbombero]

I'm just finishing off 10 sq m of porcelain 100 x 100 tiles on the diamond. Had to do hundreds of cuts around sockets, corners, into chimneys and windows etc. My cheap and cheerful Plasplugs Contractor is still going strong! If your going to do a lot of porcelain work then it may be worth getting something a little more substantial but as it's still early days i would just buy a new blade for the job and price it in accordingly.


Best of luck

cjbombero

[davy_G]

If you are going to cut porcelain then get one of these
TradeTiler.Ltd Marcrist Diamond wheels
I used on on my 40 quid wet cutter when i started, the cutter last 6 months before the motor packed in, the wheel was still in good nick. The cutter stalled with its origional wheel when trying to cut porcelain at the start. I now use a rubi wet cutter with 200mm wheel, super even for 600 x 600's
I have TS 600 and got a few of the gold scoring wheels, 18mm and 10mm. They eat porcelain, never break a cut and can cut slivers off large format tiles, no bother. I can see you having much bother will wall tiles with the standard blade, just push hard and firm!

[herny80]

Thanks for the advise guys, the blade recomended looks great but it costs £56.00 for the blade i need, anybody got any cheaper options the job i have is fairly small just the usual plug sockets. the dimentions for the blade i need is 180mm x 24.5 bore.

[davy_G]

Try the job with the standard balde, or borrow a tile to try it at home beforehand, it should cut the thinner wall tiles just slower. However my advice is invest in the blade, you will see some difference.

[MICK the Tiler]

You shouldn't need to wet cut anything. I use a standard 4 inch angle grinder with a continuous rim diamond blade to plunge cut power sockets or corner cuts. Around windows I'll scribe the corner cut on my tile cutter and the finish with the grinder to prevent chipping.

[herny80]

I have just bought a new blade from my local tile shop as i need it for tuesday with bank holiday monday i was a little worried it wouldnt arrive on time if i ordered off the internet they said it will do the job its a cutman blade I dont know if its any good or how long it will last as i cannot see porcelain written anywhere on it. Is a angle grinder the way ahead?

[MICK the Tiler]

Is an angle grinder the way ahead? A simple question, but hard to answer. I almost use an angle grider exclusively for my day to day tiling and it does keep the job moving along quicker. (Less setup time alot less fiddling around) If you want to become more advanced in tile fixing then it would be a good idea to get to know how to use an angle grinder properly. It does take practice as most things do, but once you get used to an angle grinder I can't see that you would want to go back to using a wet saw. So to answer the question if you are willing to incorporate new techniques into your tiling day then yes the humble angle grinder IME is the way forward.

[charlie1]

Yes, Brian showed me how to use one of these on tiles the other day and i can see that practising with one would develope your tiling and speed you up. Cheers Bri

However watch your fingers, that wheel must be spinning about 10000rpm

[brian c]

just about to say ,use a grinder...lolbut wear the glasses and protective clothing because Woolworths dont sell limbs or human eyes...lol

[Fekin]

just about to say ,use a grinder...lolbut wear the glasses and protective clothing because Woolworths dont sell limbs or human eyes...lol

Don't I know it

[MICK the Tiler]

How is the hand Adam?

[bigandy]

like all the boys said you cant beat a good blade for quality and speed but you should be able to reproduce the quality just take your time after all most cuts will be dry anyhow

[Alberta Stone]

I like using an angle grinder as it is a lot less bother to pack around, no water to muck around with and the blades are much cheaper.
I have an assortment which I use for whatever different materials I run into.
The only drawback is all the dust it creates.
I have a large industrial vacuum which I use to minimize this issue and use a plywood board with a small strip of lath to use as a rest on one side as a cutting board.
Invest in a good quality die grinder with a vacu-brazed, not electroplated diamond bit which is used by the monument industry to do little alterations.
A dremel tool with the small diamond wheels and specialty tips like dental tools proves very useful as you can take out minor imperfections after the tiles are set prior to grouting.
Lots of slate I get to work with is totally out of square and there is no way that I am going to refab every piece to make it right.
I snap my lines and find the happy medium and then when it is dry I use a grinder or dremel to make the grout lines perfect.
This trick works primarily for stone, but you can use it to tweek those less than perfect cheap tiles which are not quite symmetrical enough.