Hi All
Got my first paid tiling job in a few weeks time, not a huge job, but I like to buy the right kit as and when a job comes up so it's there for the future.
Are these electric tile table saws worth getting? They seem to go from £30 upwards. Would one save me time over the usual score & break type jig I've used in the past?
Any other benefits?
Good plan.
Definitely.
My PlasPlugs one was around £35, and is just great.
Yes and no. Score/snap is quicker, but the saw lets you do narrow cuts, and L shapes etc, which you just can't do when snapping.
You can use it to cut a wide range of tiles, some of which can't be snapped. Porcelain for instance, and natural stone tiles (slate, marble etc).
If the job is more than double the price of the saw you're going to buy then buy it,if not then just do it the normal score&break way till sufficiant funds allow you to purchase one.
The message from "The Medway Handyman" contains these words:
Yes, but not the £30 sort from B&Q unless you like wet feet. The water tray is too small so all the water that's been up the top doesn't land back in the tray. Runs out after about 30 seconds. Easily fixed by sitting the whole thing in a sawn-off plastic storage crate, but far from ideal.
Cuts fine though. Did my 3/4" slate windowsills a treat.
You can also use it for stone. I used ours to cut the rocks that contained fossils that my grandson found at Lyme Bay. It did an excellent job.
I have a Plasplugs saw, but IMO the B&Q PP saw I got was much better. It has a tilting table and permits much more accurate angle cuts. It also has a larger diameter wheel hence it can cut thicker tiles. I've used it to cut clay pammets (about 2.5 in thick) to repair the hall floor.
The message from Grunff contains these words:
Can't get narrower than a snap! When you get good at it, score/snap is great, but as you say there's things you can do with a saw that are a bugger to snap. Long thin bits, for a start. Even with good planning there'll be times when you need a 6"x1/2" strip and that's where saws really score.
Definitely
Probably.
It's easy to cut small pieces and cuts to fit around things.
You are less likely to break and waste material
Negative is that it may need to be used outside.
I understand the economics, but is there any point in buying something that won't add speed or quality? If a tile saw means less time to do the job it's worth it.
Yes, they are infinitely better - less broken tiles and will do very thin slices.
Ability to cut almost ruund holes by nibbling out most, and then useing them like a router..
You will never score and snap again I assure you.
>
The way I see it you only need those cutters when you're faced with the
12x12 tiles because they're a bugger to snap,if its a job where the tiles are 4x4 tiles then theres no need for to go out and buy it. By the time you've cut through a 4x4 you'll have scribed&snapped 3 tiles in the conventional way.
I bought a Ferm 600W ( 40 quidder ) from screwfix last year to use when I re-tiled my bathroom.
There were a lot of angled tiles ( up to sloping ceiling ) and these were difficult to cut with the tile saw. I had to do them freehand and found it tricky to keep the cut straight. Also none of the walls in the bathroom were plumb so I ended up cutting lots of tapers at the edges - again this meant going freehand with the electric saw and getting a few wavy cuts.
In the end I bought a half decent score & snap cutter and found it much easier ( faster & neater ) to cut the angles and non-square cuts with it.
The tiles I had to cut were quite large ( about 14" x 10" approx. ) so that might have made a difference.
In summary I found it excellent for cutting L shapes, and if I had a run of tiles that needed to be cut to the same length and that had square cuts, I could just set the fence on the tile saw and run them all through.
Given that I'd use the old snapper wherever possible but would be very grateful for an electric tile saw for those awkward cuts.
Sod it - use both ;-)
In my opinion, they are worth the cost, but should not be used as a replacement for score&break - S&B will suffice for the 90% of the cuts that you'll need and is faster, cheaper and cleaner to operate. Get a decent S&B that'll accomodate the largest tile that you're likely to come across (I found out after buying a 30cm one that our new floor tiles were 33cm across).
THEN, buy a tile table saw - there will be that small percentage of tiles that need a peculiar cut that cannot be achieved using the S&B - as others have posted here - for thin slivers, for cutting concaved (as well, I suppose as convexed) areas, and even for mitre'ing the edges of tiles if that takes your fancy.
Just be aware that it isn't one-or-the-other - these two tools complement each other. Without one of them, your job will take significantly longer to complete.
I'm reluctant to buy too many machines because of storage and carting. Some quite tricky tiling jobs have been completed here with score and break, nibbling and a wet and dry grinder that I already owned. Reading down this thread, it's even more apparent how little the tile saw really needs to be used for most wall tile jobs.
Scratch 'n snap is quicker for cuts it can do. But note others comments about L shapes and thin (approx
I actually meant if you need a 10mm strip of tile - that's hard to make by snapping.
Like that!
:-)
Found it invaluable for mosaic tiling. Not sure how easy this would have been to do with score & break.
You can borrow mine if you want to try it out.
Tim
I find this really hard to believe. When I did my bathroom recently I think there were three tiles that I couldn't use simple score and snap and would have loved to have access to an electric cutter. I did try getting a tile blade for the jigsaw but that was utterly, utterly s**te. In the end I made do with snapping and nibbling and in the finished article you can't tell, but it would have been a lot quicker.
In sumary I think doing a lot of tiling you'll always want both to hand and chose the best approach for what you're doing.
--=20 Steve F
wot everyone else has said, use a scratch and snap /and/ an electric tile saw, specifically for L shapes around sockets and quarry tiles, stone etc. very useful tool.
You absolutely MUST have one. It is slower than a snap type cutter. You only use it where a snap type is not feasible. However, these situations arise frequently.
Some examples:
Ensure you have a good snap cutter as well. It should have metal sliding bars. I use a Plasplugs Contractor, which is very nice to use. The handheld types are a waste of space. A pair of grozing pliers can be useful also.
Christian.
I'll second the bit about the water problem .. Mine was from Screwfix .What I did was sit the saw in a cat litter rtray ..Sorted .
Stuart
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