Cutting ceramic floor tiles

[kg13358]

I have searched through previous postings and would agree that a powered tile cutter with water bath is *probably* the way to go, BUT, before I spend the cash can anyone suggest where I am going wrong. I have a limited supply of expensive 300x300 floor tiles and apart from about 20 half cuts I have a similar number where I need to take off straight 20 - 30mm cuts. I have tried this with an angle grinder and I find that the corners are breaking off and even one or two have produced a smooth curved break about a third of the way in to the cutting line. I have obtained similar results(?) with standard stone discs and a diamond blade. I am just curious to know if there is a particular technique as I even made a few practice cuts on some old floor tiles and everything was fine. I have been cutting the narrow strips first as I can at least re-use the damaged tiles but I cannot afford the loss of the half cut tiles as supply is a nightmare.

Thanks

Ken

[Steve Firth]

The smooth curved break is a conchoidal fracture it's a characteristic of ceramics and glasses to break in this way. The cause is that you are trying to cut the tiles with an angle grinder. If you must do it using an angle grinder then you need to a use a diamond disc, if you are breaking the tiles as described witha diamond disc then it is a matter of technique. You need to hold the disk vertical and to move it along the length of the cut. Any twisting action (which is what I suspect is happening) will cause a fracture as the disc bind in the cut and snaps the tile.

[keng]

Thanks Steve,

"The smooth curved break" etc.

So thats the technical name for it, earlier on I simply referred to it as, you, $$%%&&**!!

Since my last post I have been looking at the various cutters etc and I noticed that there is a specific 'continuous edge' diamond disc for "tile cutting". This may be partly my own fault as I had a general purpose diamond disc which I was using in my first attempts. I should have included that my tiles are porcelain type.

I think I'll go for one of the powered cutters, plasplugs or similar as the =A340 or so should be recouped during future kitchen and bathroom renovations.

Many thanks

Ken

[Mike Dodd]

From experience, even a diamond disk in an angle grinder produces poor results, with the blade overheating (aka white-hot). A simple water-trough / rotary diamond disk cutter (entry level = £30 from sheds) works wonders. For full-sized straight cuts then a "contractors" (in Plasplug speak) draw-and-snap style cutter is very effective. Tiled the kitchen floor, maybe knackered one or two tiles learning how to use the tools. Tried plenty of "cheap" work-arounds - non of which worked, in the end, spending a few quid on half decent tools was worth every penny.

Regards

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I'd say it's near impossible to keep it square by hand. You might get away by using one of those angle grinder stands, but for what a proper diamond wheel wet tile cutter costs, it's not worth the risk if the tiles are valuable.

[Grunff]

There's a whole world of difference between porcelain and ceramic tiles. Porcelain tiles are much, much harder to cut. I did all the cuts for our kitchen floor (pocelain) using the Plasplugs cutter. The trick is to go slow. Don't try to force the cut at all.

As a rough estimate, I reckon a 30cm ceramic tile takes maybe 15-30 seconds to cut, whereas a 30cm porcelain tile (ours are ~8mm thick) takes 2-3 minutes.

[Andrew Gabriel]

I cut mine with the type of cutter with a wheel which you run up and down the glazed side a few times. It wasn't actually up to the job, but it worked fine if you did this, and then put the tile in the jaws of the B&W workmate with the scratch flush with the top, and thumped it with your fist. I did lots of 20mm slices this way, and very few broke in the wrong places. If I actually used the wheel cutter to do the bending/fracturing of the tile (as you are supposed to), all that happened is the tile stayed in one piece, and the tool bent;-).

I used an angle grinder for nibbling away special shapes where required. This would sometimes break the tile, I think through stress caused by differential heating as it can get very hot (red hot and more) in the area where the angle grinder is cutting.