Cutting Porcelain Tiles

[redeye1979]

Hi all, finally back on the pc and god i've missed this site, quick question, i am tiling a bathroom on 600 x 300 mm porcelain tiles and they are quite think and i have to cut a square hole out of the centre of the tile, tried twice and kept cracking the tile, any advice on how best to do this?

[grumpygrouter]

What were you using the first 2 times?

[redeye1979]

it wasn't on one of my jobs it was in a mtes bathroom and he was doing it himself so only had a diamond tip blade on a grinder and as i've only worked with porcelain once i didn't really have a clue what was best to do so i said i'd have a look on here, i knew the grinder wasn't gonna work but i'm curious to know what would be best

[grumpygrouter]

Don't know why the grinder didn't work. I have just been cutting porcelain tiles round a toilet bowl without problem. How big is the hole?

[redeye1979]

roughly 100mmx 100mm. i got two cuts done without a problem then when i was doing the third cut it was cracking the tile

[Dave]

The heat from the cutting wheel from the grinder would cause the tile to crack and break.....and it's not really feasable/safe to use water with a grinder to cool the blade...

[redeye1979]

cheers dave, makes sense i suppose, so can you suggest a better way?

[jonash]

Hi, you could try and let the blade cool its self, do one cut then leave it for a while and do another.
jonny

[redeye1979]

cheers for that!!

[Dave]

It's just with them bieng hard tiles that the blade gets so hot , very quickly.... it's not really safe to use water with a grinder.....so as jonas sez try letting it cool a bit between each plunge cut....

Ceramics no probs it will fly through....What type of blade do you have in the grinder..?..

[TilingLogistics]

The Makita with the water feed will do it no problem Contact Dave at Tradetiler

Kev

[Mirolimited]

Hi go to b&q and buy blade for cuting concrete, u can get small ones 10cm for the grinder. The best to cut the tile with garanteed!! one problem its got making dust...

[CJ]

The Makita with the water feed will do it no problem Contact Dave at Tradetiler

Kev

Only if you have about 4 batteries


Have you got a wet cutter............plunge cut it out.
Or do as suggested and using the angle grinder.........lightly spray the cut as you go (get someone else to do that bit unless you have more than your fair share of arms)

Cut outside on grass if poss........or anything soft underneath

It does work.........honest

[sWe]

Try doing the cut in increments.

First cut around the perimiter, about 2mm scores, and then do a diagonal cross where the scores are also about 2mm deep. Then repeat until you're about 2/3 through the tile on every score, 1-2mm with every pass. Then go all the way through on the "cross" scores. If you've done all the scores evenly, you can probably just tap the four centre pieces out with the shank of your nippers. If that still breaks the tile, try making the perimiter scores deeper, or just go all the way through.

The trick is to remove the tension between the piece you want to remove and the rest of the tile.

[365drills]

2) Use the 16mm drill to drill out the corners





Use a mini angle grinder fitted with a diamond bland to score lines between each 16mm hole. It will get noisy and messy and please be careful with angle grinders because they are vicious things and will spit tile chips everywhere. Make sure its on a firm base. This is a black and decker workmate with a rubber top. As you can see by the tile a fair bit of washing will be needed.



So keep giving the tile a little wash to see where you are and to keep the dust down.



Score out in between each 16mm hole. By using a 16mm hole you should find that the radius of the grinder will clear inside the hole and will not "push on" into the tile. Its easy to go beyond the black lines so that when you fit the socket a little run line is poking out.. Not classy !



Once you ground three sides the Centre piece will "pop" when you have cut 3 sides fully! Lovely!




MAIN PROJECT IN FULL

[newbie2]

You could try drilling the corners first then 'joining the dots'. If you need a hole with square corners then just use the disc to tidy them up afterwards.

How thick are the tiles? Perhaps cutting them equally from both sides might also help to relieve the stress.

[doug boardley]

I'd go with sWe, if it's really tough porc it'll eat drill bits

[365drills]

The important thing is whichever method you adopt you dont end up breaking more expensive tiles. I know from history pre-drilling the corners for a socket will reduce the stress in a tile.

Its just advice... Follow whatever method suits your style.

[225driver]

Had a Roto zip demo on my course that cut porcelain no prob and didnt get hot seems like a good bit of kit even got a jig saw type atachment

Though i have never used one mind