Which electric tile cutter

Thanks guys, I printed out your replies and showed them to my nabe' We'll get kitted out for water and splinter showers - thanks AD and TW. We'll also have a look at the Screwfix Arfa.

Both keen on the electric, because of the 'L' shaped tiles around corners. It can sit in a gravel tray, which should help to keep the workbench dry. Then we saw Huge's post on the carbide j/saw blade. Cheap is good, what sort of an edge does the blade give?

Only expence so far is a fine tipped permanent marker from Morrison's @ 99p. Will clean off with white spirit. Someone mentioned 'bevel edges', in what context would you use a bevel?

Bertie

Reply to
Bertie Doe
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Agreed. Furthermore there are several other reasons for having a powered cutter.

1) Increasingly tiles may have textures on them which prevent score and snap. 2) You can cut thin strips if that is what is needed. (OK, You should plan not to go there but...) 3) You can cut a 'comb' and knock out all its teeth so as to make a U shaped tile for electrical and other flush mounted accessories. 4) Some tiles are very thick making score and snap a serious challenge. 5) Tiles are on average becoming bigger thus making where complex cuts more frequent.
Reply to
Ed Sirett

The message from The Wanderer contains these words:

Far better using a Stabilo "Write-4-All" available from any commercial stationer though I don't know if they sell them individually. I buy mine in packets of ten. Write on anything. I use fine ones for countersigning passport photos.

Reply to
Appin

I can quite understand a skilled pro tiler preferring score and snap for speed - and time is money - but for ocassional DIY an electric one beats it hands down. I've recently just done a very complex bathroom using 450 x

300 mm porcelain tiles which cost several quid each and not one spoilt. When I used to use score and snap I'd be near in tears at the amount of wastage - and the fact that complex cuts would always break at the last little bit. And it can't just be down to my lack of skill seeing the number of split tiles you see round switches etc in pro jobs.
Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

I use CD/DVD marker pens for marking tiles for cutting. Very fine line and almost instant drying.

Reply to
Frank Erskine

Works OK if you're using cheap thin tiles. If you have large tiles or especially floor tiles forget it.

I've tried all sorts of markers over the years. Once you get the slurry coming up onto the tile, they all start to fade away.

Wax crayon or chinagraph pencil is the way to go.

I've never found the need to cut a bevel on an edge.

Also FWIW, take a few minutes to think about how you're going to apply the tiles. Don't forget to allow for spacers when measuring. You will always get a far better look if you have part tiles on each side of the wall, rather than a whole tile on one side and a half tile on the other side. The same also applies to top and bottom of the wall. Work from a level line drawn on the wall, your nice square walls can be a mile out in reality, so if you start with a whole tile down in one corner, the error can magnify by the time you work diagonally upwards across the wall.

If the wall is say 10 and 1/4 tiles wide, you can finish up either with two end tiles that are 1/8 wide, or two tiles that are 5/8 wide. Much easier to cut a 5/8 wide tile! Depends whether you put a tile across the centre line of the wall or each side of the centre line. A little bit of planning will give you a far better job.

Remember also that even using an electric tile cutter, you'll not be able to cut extremely narrow (1/4") strips of tile. That width just breaks off the edge of the tile in short pieces; I've found that out when cutting that much wste off a whole tile, IYSWIM.

Reply to
The Wanderer

The Wanderer is spot on, layout & planning are crucial to a good tiling job, his advice is excellent.

Wickes do a 'Good Ideas' leaflet on tiling which offers some more advice on layout.

You can download a copy here & print it off or get one in store

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Reply to
The Medway Handyman

Wickes blade in a B&D jigsaw.

Reply to
Huge

You may have a point. I tiled the master bathroom with some tiles that were apparently designed to contain nuclear waste. It took me about an hour to drill

4 holes to put the soap dish up in the shower. I did straight cuts with an angle grinder.

I think they were about 1.50 for three. I've only used one so far.

Reply to
Huge

house, has no true walls. There's a half inch gap at one corner of the shower tray, which suggests the bathroom corner is say 95 degrees.

My wife wants the existing 760mm sq, corner entry shower replaced with a 760 sq bi-fold, because the sub tray, wooden platform is rotting. There are 2 layers of tiles in the bathroom, 6 x 6", which have been overlaid by 10 x

8". I'm going to remove the lot and start afresh with 10 x 8 and 6 x 6's in the kitchen.

One of the previous owners, left a box of tile odds and ends, including a pack of about 200 spacers (mentioned above). There's a castle-wall edged grout spreader and a 'tile float'. Am I right in thinking that the float is for applying the final grout, to fill in the 2mm gaps between the tiles?

Reply to
Bertie Doe

I've a feeling your score and snap experience may be based on the old Plasplugs tool where the snap bit was separate from the score bit. Having to reposition the tile and judge by eye where the score was made it an unpredictable affair. The slightly better versions where the arm does both are twice as fast and an absolute doddle to use. Not for porcelain of course but "several quid each" ain't my style :-)

Reply to
stuart noble

The message from Frank Erskine contains these words:

Agreed. Same sort of thing and I use the Stabilo Write-4-Alls on CDs and DVDs too.

Reply to
Appin

Presumably cutting pretty soft tiles?

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

I imagine so. They're Pilkington "Matrix" black and white ones.

Reply to
Huge

No - I bought an expensive one from the local decent tool shop. Cast base and roller cutter slide.

I found it fine with 'cheap' tiles - apart of course from removing slivers. And cutting out curves or notches, etc. Once I'd got a power one and discovered it would do everything the snap one wouldn't I've not used it since.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

But if you had to cut 50 tiles in half, I guess you might

Reply to
stuart noble

I reckon that I could cut maybe 10 tiles in half in the time it takes to plug in a power cutter and fill it with water. So any more or less than that and its easier and quicker to score and snap.

Reply to
dennis

I had a 'quality' slide type of tile cutter. More or less useless on floor tiles.

Reply to
The Wanderer

I've come into this thread a day late, however, in my limited experience (floor tiling a kitchen and bathroom), I can say that the Plasplug will adequately do the 5% of cuts that a straight score-and-snap can't. The Plasplug "Contractor" score-and-snap is a good companion to it.

My experience, with pretty hard floor tiles, is that the various tile-files, abrasive coping-saw blades, and jigsaw blades are utter crap

- but that will be biased against 8mm hard tiles. I did try a diamond disk in a angle-grinder (well, got my old man to), but without cooling, and against a hard floor tile, the heat destroyed both tile and disk.

I started my jobs trying to avoid spending money (this was a few years back when money was rather more scarce for me), and going from cheap tools - which hit the bin - to increasingly expensive tools (making the whole job cost 2x the cost of just buying the right tools in the first place). The score-and-snap gives you 95% of the cuts, in record time (and we only cracked one tile inadertently, and on hind-sight we were being optimistic (tapered cut to the edge of a tile)), and the tile-cutter (rotary) does the remaining real buggers of a cut with ease (as others alluded - you can cut complex shapes, if you really want to - I formed the outline of the toilet base to avoid having to raise the toilet - just tiled around - a kludge, I know, but at the time...)

So... (trying to summarise...) think about which cutter you can maintain easiest (i.e. getting a replacement blade at 3pm Sunday afternoon), and go for that. I wouldn't advise using it as a generic tile-cutter - for straight cuts dealing with more than 1" of tile width, the 1-action score-and-snap cutters (probably another £20) will make the whole job easier.

Reply to
Mike Dodd

News has spread along the terrace and another neighbour has joined the syndicate. The consensus is to go for the electric, rather than score and snap. Ed Sirett's comment about cutting comb patterns to facilitate curves was a decisive factor. With the extra member, we can even budget in a spare disc, if needs be.

No decision yet on whether to go for the plasplug or the two all metal Clarkes ETC or the Titan SF180T (Screwfix). Thanks for all your info and tips.

As mentioned earlier, in addition to replacing all the bathroom tiles, my wife would like a new 750 x 750 shower enclosure. Talking to salespeople, the enclosure is supported by two 180 x 3cm box sections. These half box sections, need to be rawlplugged to the (breezeblock) walls first. This suggests you install the shower first, then tile afterwards.

Has anyone tried tiling first? This would reduce the number of cuttings? I guess it depends on your tile laying ability, or whether there would be any tile movement, post shower install.

Reply to
Bertie Doe

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