Treated myself to the SF Titan tile saw to do the kitchen, and I have to say I'm disappointed. The blade that comes with it produced a ragged cut and seemed to take forever to cut basic 6mm ceramic tiles. On thicker tiles the thing would drive you crazy I'm sure. Mind you, it made this round socket cut possible
Surprisingly I was able to cut 30 odd 10mm strips on the snapper, which was the job I originally had in mind for it.
stuart noble wibbled on Monday 26 April 2010 18:20
I found with the cheaper tiles saws (I forget what mine is - might be Titan) that I had to pull slightly sideways on the tile to ease it off the blade. TBF I have top do that with my mitre saw when I want a splinter free perfect cut on some veneered wood.
Perhaps a better blade? Rumour has it that could make a difference.
I've had three Plasplug ones - moving up the range - and even the basic one cut basic tiles with ease. Porcelain ones are a different matter. Perhaps the supplied blade is poor.
I had no such problem with Erbauer. Maybe in the current climate you could press for a refund, since it wasnt suitable for the job.
NT
Not sure if you are talking about electric or manual, but it is surprising how the snap type seem to be so expensive compared with the electric saws. However, one thing not to do is to believe those orange plastic 'hacksaw' type things they sell as tile saws. I bought one as I only had one tile that needed a square cut out of a corner, but the blade bent double in the plastic mounting instead of cutting. However, then I remembered I already had an abrafile blade for my ordinary hacksaw, and this did the job just fine.
I've also watched people cutting tiles with an electric saw, in huge clouds of dust, and wondered how long they were likely to live if they made a habit of it! (Mind you, I'm hopeless with snapping tiles - or glass - so I let them get on with it.)
S
SF = Screw Fix? They list two Titan tile saws. One "table top" and looking very similar to my Plasplugs one. The other a sliding head above a table on legs.
My plasplugs will make hard work of cutting a tile if the fence is not correctly aligned with the blade, a small fraction of a mm out and the back edge has to cut through tile as well. This dramatically increases the force required to feed the tile and will tend to produce a ragged cut.
Tile saws have a water reservoir, so at least dust isn't an issue. The Titan has rave reviews on the SF site, so I guess it must be me expecting too much. What puzzles me is why it has such a large blade if it struggles with 6mm.
It'll do me for the odd cut. I just wouldn't want anyone to think you could use it for much else.
Agreed, I had to fettle my Screwfix one for this reason. But even cuts quarry tiles OK with the supplied blade. I wouldn't use anything else.
I tiled a whole large bathroom with 8mm porcelain tiles - all cut where necessary with my Plasplugs. Something very wrong with yours. I know they're not as fast as score and split - but with the cost of these tiles I'd rather have the accuracy and clean cuts. I've even cut concrete paving slabs with it. So thick I had to turn them over - it would only go through about half way on each pass.
I suppose there are blades and blades depending on how much actual diamond grit they contain. And the bigger they are the more work the motor has to do, so if yours isn't performing up to the rave reviews perhaps the windings aren't right and you should ask for a replacement. SF have been quite good at replacing stuff for me in the past when it hasn't lived up to the description. (I had a nice old fashioned cross cut saw with nice big blade, but I think it had originally been intended for three phase, and on ordinary
240v it just never had the guts to handle the big blade, so sadly it went for scrap in the end.) S
Hmm, treated myself to an el-cheapo tile saw (QEP, whoever the heck they are) a couple of weeks ago, too, just for light duty work - it only cost the equivalent of about 40 quid, so it seemed worth the risk. For the price, it turns out that it's actually not too bad - makes nice clean cuts, and does them quickly.
Main downsides are that the rip fence is just a plastic-fantastic crap bar which snaps into place (I can't see the clips lasting long), and that the blade guard fouls the cover for the blade's water bath - meaning that it has to be completely removed every time I open the cover to check/add more water. Maybe I'll motivate myself to make a new rip fence and modify the mounting point for the blade guard so it's not stupid, but for the amount of use it'll get I can possibly live with it...
cheers
Jules
That's why everyone who has used a number of different tilesaws recommends the cheap plastic Plasplugs ones, not the shiny steel top versions in the sheds
Yes, I could see that coming, so I didn't bother with the fence.
I've cut slabs that way with a mini grinder without noticing that it was particularly slow. I'll have another look later on. My hunch is that the blade supplied with it isn't good enough.
The finish of the cut was worlds apart with the wet cutter, though. Almost like a polished finish. Not that it mattered in this case.
But at least you don't get the dust. Looking at the range of Plasplugs blades, they obviously take tile cutting seriously, suggesting the extra tenner probably goes into a decent blade. I went for the heavier looking jobby with a bigger motor but, for the amount of use it's going to get, that was clearly not a good decision.
As you go up the range, you tend to get a bigger bed which makes cutting larger tiles easier. Also maybe a motor with a longer duty cycle. My original blew the thermal fuse after some heavy use. Of course the instructions do say to rest it after a given time.
Just as a follow up. As I get back to tiling, I notice the blade on the Titan is now as smooth as a baby's bum, having cut all of 3 x 6mm tiles in its short life. . And with a bore size of 25.4mm I'm restricted for choice as a replacement. Due to a c*ck-up on my part I now find myself having to cut 3mm off a dozen tiles, but I'm tempted to score 'n nibble rather than go over to Screwfix for yet another Titan blade. Feeling slightly stitched up over this
Jim K
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