You could bring a difficult piece like that to a stained glass place. They have diamond bandsaws with extremely thin blades. They can do scroll work in the tile if you'd like. They might charge you $20, but it's worth it if you don't have the tools or inclination to do it other ways.
R
Of course! It's still sitting next to the computer. ;-)
It sounds like you've been here, so I hope I don't seem like a fool, but floor tile is *HARD*. I had no problem cuttign a 4" hole in wall tile for a dryer vent in the laundry with a RotoZip, circle cutter, and carbide bit. The floor tile just laughed at that setup (and the carbide bit got quite embarrased).
So... The only way I managed to cut the holes for the toilets (this is the second of three bathrooms) was the "death of a thousand cuts", with the wet saw and nippers. At least the upstairs bathroom hole went through four tiles. The downstairs was 90% in one tile. While this isn't impossible, it is a PITA.
I never thought of that! $20 might be worth it, though accuracy isn't all that important in this application. I'll keep that in mind though! I have one more to go, perhaps next spring after the thaw. ;-)
Not sure how your layout lined up, but typically you have enough slop (the hole is a lot smaller than the toilet above) that you can just use some straight lines and approximate it.
Even the "nibble away with a wet saw" shouldn't have taken too long, if you have a halfway decent wet saw (my cheapo Harbor Freight one does this sort of thing with no problem). The hardest cut I've seen was getting 1/2" marble trimmed around the radius-edge of the tub in our old house. I laid out the cut and let my wife do it . She's a lot more detail-oriented than me, and took probably a thousand trips down to the garage, nibbed off a little, came up, test-fit it, repeat ad-infitim...
-Tim
LOL! I should have mentioned that she's my "project partner" and is very willing to swing a hammer or do whatever it takes to help out.
-Tim
Sure, there is slop, but as a non-professional I don't know how much. The flange is 7" diameter, so there is no way the toilet base is less than that. Is it 8"? 12"? Where does it really sit? Where is the weight?
I wanted the hole as small as possible and centered on, well, the hole.
It's a cheapo BORG one, that I've had for five years or so. I've seen the HF unit on line and would have bought that (cheaper, larger, and legs). This is a MK-Diamond unit that cost me about $250. It works fine, but to cut the toilet hole still takes the better part of an hour. The downstairs one longer, since it was 90% in one tile. More cuts, fewer angles (broke the first attempt). The circular blade doesn't cut verticallly, either. Back-cutting... Not impossible, just a PITA, as I said.
I'd be wearing not only the marble, but the saw (still running).
Next time do it in one trip: make a paper template to fit, and trace that onto the tile.
Oh, we did, actually. It's just that she learns from me, and I subscribe to the "it's easier to take more off then put more on" theory (or as I put it with woodworking -- "easier to cut twice than stretch it..."
-Tim
You are the perfect husband, in this case. Good job!!
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