electric tile cutters

[Colin freeserve]

Hi

I have looked at past postings - and noted that the plasplugs diamond wheel cutter comes out well.

Presently I get good results using a diamond wheel in an angle grinder. The disadvantage of this is that I need to cut outside due to the dust. This is a bit laborious if my customer is on 2, 3rd floor!

I was wondering if the wet cutters minimise the dust? I note that there is some water spray - but a plastic sheet with dust sheet on top should work ok.

Is the plasplugs the best one to go for? I would prefer a continuoulsy rated one for semi-professional use.

I currently use a rubi cutter for straight cuts which is great...

Regards

Colin

[BillR]

I've used the PP one for some years. Its ok.

Not so much dust but wet spray slurry which is caught by the blade guard normally but sometimes you have to lift it to see what you are doing and get covered in the stuff, therefor I usually use mine outside for this reason.

I've recently seen metal bodied ones in the sheds and tile outlets for similar price to the PP one. I would go for one of those now as it seemed stronger than the PP which is all plastic body. Having said that its the blade sticking out the top which is vunerable in transit so in protectein that the whole thing tends to be ok.

You'll want to stick with that where the edge is visible because all these diamond cutters chip the glaze to some extent..

[John Stumbles]

I don't know how quick you are at measuring, marking and laying - I'd guess you'd have to be Guinness book material to burn out the PP £30 job with continuous use.

One point to note is that these are effectively throwaway machines - replacement wheels cost almost as much as the machines themselves! (Or has anyone found a source of cheap diamond wheels?)

They also do a bigger brother version at c £170 IIRC which I think has a better guide mechanism (could hardly be worse :-). For pro use and especially if you're cutting big tiles* the bigger one would be worth looking at.

• Simply because the bed of the toy machine is too small to allow you to set the guide for cuts of approx 1/2 of a 300mm tile.

-- John Stumbles

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

-+

[BillR]

Not true e.g. Topps have wheels under 10 quid. After 3 bathrooms and 2 kitchens my first wheel is still going strong anyway.

[John]

What about these £6.99 for 2 and £5.99 for 2 repectively.

Screwfix part numbers 10359 and 14780

John

[Dave Plowman]

I've never come across a score and snap machine that gives a perfect edge either. I'd say a diamond wheel machine where the tile isn't forced through is miles better. Slower, of course, but this probably doesn't matter for DIY.

If the cut edge of a tile is where it's likely to be touched, I'd ease it with a stone anyway, regardless of how it was 'cut'.

[Dave Plowman]

Yes - provided you switch it off when not actually in use. If you leave the motor running continuously, it will take the internal thermal fuse.

[Gripfill John]

Just bought one of the Plasplug Diamond Wheel cutter thingys and so far I've had 100% success with no wasteage. I used it for cutting 1 inch square glass mosaic tiles. Before purchasing it I had tried all the usual methods, including a diamond blade in my angle grinder - all of these methods were hit and miss, unless you want to make a pile of useless bits of tile!

Just go slow and do not use too much pressure. You also have to keep the guard down or you get very wet!

[Andrew]

Do you actually own one of these? The "PP £30 job" is not a toy and its bed *is* big enough to cut well up to and beyond half of a 300mm tile. I just checked on the one I bought a few months ago.

It may well be a throw away machine but I still consider it money well spent. I've tiled the kitchen and it will obviously last long enough to do the bathrooms and then some. For the price and performance it is excellent value for money.

Andrew