Cutting rubber tiles

[Steve B]

"gcotterl" wrote

Now I see what you're describing. I'll give it a try and post my results.

Thanks.

All you want to do is have the cut open up so you can make successive cuts without having the cut edges put drag on the blade. This jig works to get you nice straight repetitive cuts. When cutting conveyor belt, you can do it by just bending it over a bench edge and using a piece of flat bar or angle clamped to the work bench, and an assistant bending the cutoff side. Just enough to open the cut. Don't try to cut through all in one slice, take your time and don't cut any major arteries, and use a sharp new blade.

Good luck.

Steve

[Steve B]

I bought two of those 100 blade dispensers, plus one dispenser of blades with a hook on them for $1 each at a yard sale. Stanley they were. I still haven't used them all.

Steve

[ChairMan]

a hot knife would work

[gcotterl]

,

I used a Skilsaw jigsaw and it cut the tiles just fine.

The tiles were a terra-cotta color so I started using a yellow wax pencil but the lines quickly became so wide that I couldn't tell exactly where to cut. I then switched to a black felt-tip Sharpie marker that applied a thin line that was fairly easy to see against the reddish tile.

70% of the tiles did not need to be cut.

15% of the tiles (around the perimeter of my patio) had to have about

6 inches cut off one side.

10% of the tiles were cut to a couple of inches wide.

5% of the tiles had to cut to fit around posts, pipes and other obstructions so these took the most time to measure and cut.

I did use a utility knfe to shave off excess tile material when my cuts were a little off or to make minor adjustments for uneven stucco or when the concrete slab had bumps or other protuberances.

[gcotterl]

The Skil jigsaw belongs to my brother. I assume the blade originally came with the saw. The teeth looked fairly coarse but they made very clean cuts (they didn't chew up the rubber).