Wet Cutters on Site

[cowgomoo]

Hello everyone, I am running a large site cutting 600 x 300 porcelain tiles which are proving a devil to cut whether by Sigma, Rubi or Clinker and the waste issue has raised its head with the site managers - they allow us 10% but we are exceeding this. I do wonder if a wet cutter is the answer but, having no great knowledge of the, how long would a 600 mm cut take and what size wet cutter would you recommend - a plas plug 100 quid job with diamond wheel or something more substantial. Many Thanks. David.

[Dave]

What tile is it..?

[david campbell]

the plasplug you mentioned is a cracking cutter for 600's i've recently invested in one and its first job was 500mm porcelan squares,no problems!!

[LM Ceramics]

my rubi ts 50 plus can cut porcelains no problem if you give it a quick score and snap obviously like dave says which type of porcelain is it if not try and use a wet saw

[doug boardley]

they're being tight only allowing you 10% on 600x300's.The potential for wastage is far greater with large format tiles, unless of course the site agent couldn't give a monkeys about symmetry and would like you to use your off cuts at the start of another wall!.
My Rubi DW 200 LPS has no problem cutting 600x300's tho'(having said that the cpc blade is getting a bit tired now!)

[Dave]

It's just there are some pocelain bodied tiles on the market with a 1.5mm glass glaze on them...so this combined with the porcelain grade 5 biscuit means they are swines to get to break in a clean line, so wet cut is the only option..

[cornish_crofter]

If he's cutting them at an angle the Rubi TS plus may struggle. I had problems envelope cutting 600x300 porcelain for a wetroom former using a TS 60 plus and keeping both bits.

I moved on to my Belle Minitile 230 and that sorted it.

It was fine for straight cuts though.

As many here have said though, the plasplug 650W is a good cutter.

[cowgomoo]

Tight is one word for them, thank you for your reply but I was wondering how long it would take to complete a cut 600mm long. The porcelain tiles are solid jobs ( technical term ) the ones that are the same all the way through.

[cowgomoo]

Hey men, many thanks for all the replys, a side issue to this is - are there porcelain tiles and porcelain tiles ?? All of the guys here have had experience with porcelain tiles before but none have been as difficult to cut as these - they say. The building firm apparently uses the same tiles in all of its projects and each tiling firm employed has had trouble with them - according to the site managers. I would like to be the one who cracks the problem and wins all the contracts in the future.

[cornish_crofter]

A 600mm cut on a wet cutter will take you around 2 to 3 minutes a pass, then there's the setting up etc for each different sized cut.

10% is a standard waste allowance. I've come in at anything from 0% to about 15%, depending on the geomitry of the job and the quality of the tiles.

If he is causing you grief about this, work out what waste you would get with the job anyway because of normal layout and present him with this.

[Sir Ramic]

A 600mm cut on a wet cutter will take you around 2 to 3 minutes a pass, then there's the setting up etc for each different sized cut.

10% is a standard waste allowance. I've come in at anything from 0% to about 15%, depending on the geomitry of the job and the quality of the tiles.

If he is causing you grief about this, work out what waste you would get with the job anyway because of normal layout and present him with this.

You sure

[cowgomoo]

I have to tell you that there is no symmetry on this job, basins, pan and shower heads all seemingly at random. The regular wastage isn't of concern -purely the amount of tiles wasted trying to complete cuts length wise and the fiddly cuts around toilet inlet ond out pipes etc. 2-3 minutes is quite quick enough, can you take a 5mm slice or less off ok with these machines and is there a splintering issue and can you keep the cut dead straight easily enough and do you get soaking wet ??? So many questions - I am indebted to you all. David.

[Sir Ramic]

With the CPC wheel on my Rubi DW250 i was mitring the edge of a tile and the offcut was coming off clean. I was impressed and so were the rest of the site. As for getting wet, yeah i get wet but i find the more water the better. If i was that fussed i would wear a waterproof jacket or something.

[top tiler]

we had the same problem last year on a block of flats italian full bodid porcelain water cutter was taking to long and that was with a very good cutter. we ended up using grinders to cut through the top and cut right through both ends and breaking them on the corner of a wall this only works on big cuts ,if small cuts grind right through our wastage ended up being 20%

[doug boardley]

With the CPC wheel on my Rubi DW250 i was mitring the edge of a tile and the offcut was coming off clean. I was impressed and so were the rest of the site. As for getting wet, yeah i get wet but i find the more water the better. If i was that fussed i would wear a waterproof jacket or something.

is that with cpc2 blade Neale, if so are they a lot better than old cpc blade?

[Sir Ramic]

is that with cpc2 blade Neale, if so are they a lot better than old cpc blade?

Its the CPC2 wheel i have, never tried another CPC only standard Rubi and Macrist.

[cornish_crofter]

The Belle minitile 230 is fine for taking 5mm or less off. I can see why you would have had a problem with the snap cutter if that's all you wanted to take off.

I can only speak for the Belle Minitile because that is the one I have used for the porcelain tiles I laid.

[cornish_crofter]

You sure

Neale, that was my experience with the 600x300 B&Q Porcelain tiles that I used on the Belle Mini tile 230. Mind you it was a while so I had try to remember the time, didn't time it.

[cowgomoo]

my rubi ts 50 plus can cut porcelains no problem if you give it a quick score and snap obviously like dave says which type of porcelain is it if not try and use a wet saw

Hi, a couple of guys have this cutter and have problems with the lenghthwise cut -one of the machines snapped itself last week ! 1 month old from Screwfix - they replaced it foc !!

[cowgomoo]

the plasplug you mentioned is a cracking cutter for 600's i've recently invested in one and its first job was 500mm porcelan squares,no problems!!

Hi David, how long did it take to do a cut of 500 ,on this baby. David

[simhopper]

I have a rubi dw200n, eats stones & porcelains for breakfast

less than 60 secounds from laying on table to finished cut

needs to be used outside as the excess spray soaks everything within a 2m radius!

what i sometimes find is the buffer that keeps the tile square on the time has a habit of moving,which results in a out of square cut

still one of my best tiling buys

[riggers]

get a marcrist blade on the go fella.

[Leatherface]

Hello everyone, I am running a large site cutting 600 x 300 porcelain tiles which are proving a devil to cut whether by Sigma, Rubi or Clinker and the waste issue has raised its head with the site managers - they allow us 10% but we are exceeding this. I do wonder if a wet cutter is the answer but, having no great knowledge of the, how long would a 600 mm cut take and what size wet cutter would you recommend - a plas plug 100 quid job with diamond wheel or something more substantial. Many Thanks. David.

Hi mate, this must really be down to the particular model ( not make ) of cutter you are using. I use a RUBI TX700N on hard to snap porcelain. Never had a problem. The TX range can be found on Trade Tiler website. Well worth the money

[doug boardley]

I was forced to post it!! the small one is tx700

[Leatherface]

I was forced to post it!! the small one is tx700

Bet the TX 1000 is heavy !!!
Thank god have never needed one. Have only been asked to do one job with 1 metre tiles. Turned it down as customer was not prepared to pay my price ( which was a bit inflated to include a proportion of the price of a new cutter, to cut them with ) Wasn't going to pay for it all myself and have it gather dust in my garage !

[Dave]

It's the tx1200 nick...

[doug boardley]

Bet the TX 1000 is heavy !!!
Thank god have never needed one. Have only been asked to do one job with 1 metre tiles. Turned it down as customer was not prepared to pay my price ( which was a bit inflated to include a proportion of the price of a new cutter, to cut them with ) Wasn't going to pay for it all myself and have it gather dust in my garage !

a tx1000 might be, that baby's the tx1200n Nick, and yes it is heavy!

[Leatherface]

Not a bad guess, knew it was a big un !!!

[Dave]

Not a bad guess, knew it was a big un !!!

mmmmmmmm..heard that phrase before.

[garythetiler]

i have the tx 1200 n, rubbish cutter, just not up to the job, use it most for diagonal cutting 60x60 tiles where you cut through the angle you have to break a fair way down the rail and the bars bend up and you cannot break the tile , there are much better more robust cutters on the market ,mine has never cut totally square either the screw thread which holds the guide bar stop has stopped holding the guide now, absolute crap and i paid over £600 for the pleasure thanks rubi