Hi,
I need to cut some tiles (hearth tiles) to an accurate shape matching the profile of the bottom of our cast-iron fireplace. Does anyone have any good tips for cutting curved/irregular shapes in tiles? Any help greatly appreciated!
Cheers
Tom
How hard/thick are the wall tiles? A tile cutting jigsaw blade cuts well for normal wall type tiles and is a few pounds. I tried using one of these on a floor tile though and it was blunted and glowing red after cutting for about an inch into the tile. For harder/thicker tiles an electric tile cutter (eg plasplugs) with diamond blade cuts well. These only cut in straight lines, but to get a curve you cut a series of slots upto your desired line, leaving a ceramic tile comb. These teeth can then be broken off. You can also get a tile nibbler, which is like a pair of pliers, with a parrot's beak type jaw, which you use to carefully break away small pieces.
Mark your shape on a piece of card, when it's right transfer the shape to the tile. Use liquid paper or similar, you don't want to get ink (e.g. from felt tip pens) into the "biscuit" or it may show through the glaze. Hold the tile in some soft jaws in a vice (use rubber strips, card or similar). Cut along the marked line with a tile saw - a tool like a Junior hacksaw, but instead of a blade having a "wire" coated with tungsten carbide particles. Take it gently and keep the "blade" at right-angles to the tile (or at least a consistent angle). You can cut fairly intricate shapes, or even holes, in the tiles.
J.B.
A cheap angle grinder and a diamond blade works well when used as a "grinder" to remove tile and you can cut virtually any shape with it. just clamp the tile over the edge of a workbench first.
I'll second that. I have a 4" angle grinder with a stone disc. I was able to cut a good radius by hand, and even a square out of the centre of a tile for a shower point.
The plasplugs cutter is brilliant for straight cuts on wall tiles, but I find it can struggle a bit on thicker floor tiles.
Scott
You might find a profiling gauge helpful:
Once you've marked the tiles, I find a tile saw works pretty well (but might be difficult if the tiles are very thick:
Thanks everyone for your suggestions. Although the angle grinder approach appeals, the small size of tile and my budget dictates that I'll try the tile saw approach first. Now off to buy some Tippex, a tile saw and a few spare tiles...
If you've got a wet diamond wheel cutter - like a Plasplugs - draw out the curves you need then cut 'fingers' parallel to one just short of the line. If you make them about 1/4" apart, the fingers will break off cleanly with no risk of the tile breaking. For a difficult curve you might need to do the 'fingers' on more than one axis - the ideal is that they are at near right angles to the line, but close together at it. Then finish off with a tile file. It's slow, but reliable, IMHO.
"tom w" wrote
Electric tile cutters are cheap and can be had for between £20-£30, but probably not worth the outlay for 1 small job.
You can cut reasonable profiles with these as suggested using the cut and nibble technique, but don't try to do anything fancy. Buy a couple of extra tiles just in case. (I needed them !)
Cheers,
Paul.
PS Do try and post at the bottom !
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