Help!: cutting out for sockets

[justinisaac]

Hello all

Could anyone give me some advice on how to cut holes in tiles for electrical outlets? The tiles are ceramic, 12 x 300 x 600. I tried with the angle grinder with a suitable blade from both front and back of the tile but when it comes to breaking the waste piece out the tile cracks.

Also tried drilling 65mm hole through the tile and then nibbling the rest out - same result unfortunately!

I have quite a few to cut out - some tiles have 3 sockets - so I would really appreciate some help as we don't have too many spares!

My kit includes a Rubi ts 600, the basic Rubi ceramic drill set, a few carbide tipped drills up to about 8mm, Rubi parrot and standard nibblers and a standard electric saw with a decent quality blade attached.

Thanks
Justin

[Sir Ramic]

Practice more mate. Have you tried plunge cutting on the wet saw? My preferred method is the angle grinder but it takes some getting used to.

[grumpygrouter]

You might want to try a dremmel with tile cutter bit. Drill a hole in each corner of the area to be cut and then use the dremmel to cut between the holes. Take your time though!

[Alan.P]

Hi Justin, my preferred method is plung cutting, obviously you cant see where the blade is coming through until it's through so start on the inside of the box see where it comes through and adjust to suit, Holding the tile face up of course, you will be able to get into the corners and not need to break or nibble with luck, takes a bit of practice, might pay you to practice on an off cut or broken tile first.

Hope that helps

[oogabooga]

Angle grinder user myself and agree it does become pretty easy with practice. Most important thing is to have a good blade as cheaper ones are not well balanced and induce a lot of vibration causing chips and fractures.

As suggested, practice on the scraps. You could cut from the top up to your marks in each corner, then cut a diagonal to each corner, gently tap out the centre scrap. Try it on a bit of scrap carpet if vibration is causing the problems. If that doesn't work (i.e you can't get close enough into the corners) once you've made the cuts from the top of the tile, flip the tile over and gently join up your cuts underneath (without over cutting your marks on the top) - should be enough for you to tap out the centre (if it doesn't just fall out). Good luck!.

[365drills]

We've done an article on sockets before. Maybe worth a look?

Cutting Sockets into tiles

[P'boro tiler]

i use my handheld battery powered makita and simply plunge

[whitebeam]

Prefer the plunge method

[Leatherface]

Usually grinder for sockets

[faithhealer]

Plunge cutting for me

[tile55]

Plunge cutting for me

me too, plus nibblers.

[Frosty]

i use my handheld battery powered makita and simply plunge

Me too This bit of kit takes longer than a grinder, but it's more controlled (unless you're used to a grinder of course!!!)

[MICK the Tiler]

Hello all

Could anyone give me some advice on how to cut holes in tiles for electrical outlets? The tiles are ceramic, 12 x 300 x 600. I tried with the angle grinder with a suitable blade from both front and back of the tile but when it comes to breaking the waste piece out the tile cracks.

Also tried drilling 65mm hole through the tile and then nibbling the rest out - same result unfortunately!

I have quite a few to cut out - some tiles have 3 sockets - so I would really appreciate some help as we don't have too many spares!

My kit includes a Rubi ts 600, the basic Rubi ceramic drill set, a few carbide tipped drills up to about 8mm, Rubi parrot and standard nibblers and a standard electric saw with a decent quality blade attached.

Thanks
Justin

Hi Justin,

You shouldn't have to break the waste piece out, if you cut to your marks on the front first, then flip the tile over and cut down through the back of the tile allowing the cuts to run past each other while watching closely through the cut to make sure you do not over run on the face of the tile.

[Mark B]

This might sound like a stupid question but are you scoring the cut first?

I've found that whichever method I use if I score the cut first it tends to save the tile from cracking.

Mark.

[2Balls]

Hi ,when dust is not a problem then a Grinder with a quality blade. Or a Lochboy, Wedia tipped hamer and nippler, when you have made a hole with the Lochboy score the tile with your cutter to the size of the socket you want ,and snip away to the score. The Grinder is faster,go outside.Practise makes perfect! 2Balls

[365drills]

Agree on hand grinders just remember that on startup they kick like mules, and because they have no water feed tend to spit a lot of dust out when running.



They work fast and do the job though.

[2Balls]

I`m sorry Richard but using Drills to cut a socket is a bit over the top!,but thats only my opinion

[365drills]

I probably should say that its best to ignore the type of tile we have demonstrated on (soft small ceramics). The method is meant to be for large format tiles where it is critical no damage can occur.

The most common mistake we see is where the blade of an angle grinder plunges deeper into the tile so that a cut is visible above the socket.

We are often sent tiles to pre-drill and by boring out four corners with a 16mm drill it provides us with a guaranteed "stop" to the angle grinder.

This is the sort of tile people send in to us and want a socket put into the middle of:



Getting it wrong on this tile will cost £80 psm....

What we do is predrill the corners so there can be no over run whatsoever



(Sorry about using soft tiles to demo a hard tile technique)



By pre-drilling 4 x corners finishing the large format tile with straight cuts from an angle grinder is easier and removes operator error.

I also think rounded corners adds a bit of strength to the tile. But I absolutley agree that if you are on-site and careful then you can eliminate the four corner method for the majority of tiles.

Hopefully this post will pick up lots of ways to put a socket in a tile. !

[garretridge]

i would normaly score out the shape of socket with a rubi tile cutter in a file handle then plunge cut on wet saw easy with a bit of practise!

[2Balls]

Hi Richard, Even with Porcelan I would not bother drilling, I would still go with the flex,For a rectangular shape. However for cutting the perfect Triangular shower tap fitting drilling the 3 pionts and then cutting the slightly curverd sides freehand works a well . For the perfect circle you can`t beat a drill bit or grinder bit. Its my way and nothing against your Tools .

All the Best 2Balls