If the Bosch 1590EVSK will cut steel, will it cut...

You bet. Get a carbide grit blade. Won't give you as clean a cut as diamond, but works fine for the occasional odd size cut.

If you've got a lot of tile to cut, and the cuts are straight, get (or rent) a real tile saw.

A carbide tipped masonary drill bit will drill a starter hole. Put a piece of masking tape on first to prevent the bit from sliding all over while you're getting it started.

HTH,

Paul

Look on the coastal tool website.

Thanks Paul, that's just the info I needed.

We are borrowing a real tile saw from a friend who owns one for all the straight cuts. But for a few places where water supply lines come through, I was hoping the jigsaw could do the job. ... I suppose it might depend on how tight a radius I want to cut, eh? Any thoughts on the practical limit of how small a circle I could cut? ... I guess it would be good for the toilet waste pipe, but water supply lines might only require such a small opening as to make the jigsaw not practical?

-Chris

Doh! Too bad I didn't ask this question before placing my order w/ Coastal :^) Oh well. Thanks for the pointer.

-Chris

You can nibble away a small hole for the supply lines using the grit blade. Because the grit is a bit wider than the blade it will sort of cut on the sides a bit too.

There are a couple of alternatives.

The pro's would use a carbide, or more likely, a diamond hole saw of the appropriate diameter. Might not be worth buying one for one job, but you can rent if you have a good rental place nearby. The diamond ones are pricey, but the carbide ones not so bad.

You can also get a carbide grit rod saw that fits into a hacksaw frame. It's a piece of heavy wire coated with carbide grit and it cuts in any direction. You would drill a small hole first, thread the rod saw through, and then attach to the frame and saw away. Describing it is more work than doing it; it really goes pretty fast.

Final alternative is a roto-zip with a carbide grit masonry bit. This will drill it's own starting hole and then allow you to make the cutout. A little tricky to control accurately, but for a rough hole for plumbing, good enough. The roto-zip will set you back more than a hole saw by several times, but it's a pretty handy tool to have if you are planning on a lot of remodeling or rennovation, especially if it involves drywall work.

Good luck,

Paul

"TheNewGuy" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:

What you want is a Fein Multimaster XL. THAT little rascal is made for doing such things with precision and finesse. Carbide grout blade.

Or a DeWalt 4.5" low angle grinder with a continous grit dry diamond blade. And a ShopVac to clean up the fine dust that WILL get into everything.

I really like my Bosch jigsaw, but I wouldn't want the dust from tile cutting inside of it.

Wear a dust mask when cutting tile, unless you're using a wet saw.

Patriarch, whose bathroom remodel, as of 1 pm today, is officially functional. Only the mirror remains to be framed & hung.

"TheNewGuy" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@g47g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:

Get the proper sized hole saw with carbide grit cutting edges. Use plumber's putty to make a water dam around the hole, and cut the tile on your messy bench, or on your drill press.

Patriarch

I'll keep that in mind. When I can, I do the highly-dust-producing tasks outside, and for the couple/few tiles I need to makes holes in, I can certainly do that. Sometimes I even setup a fan to make a forced cross-wind to whisk dust away from me/tool. Dustmask not optional (nor are earplugs and eye protection...)

Congrats on the bathroom remodel completion! Ours is hopefully not too far behind. Finishing the wainscoting, then on to the floor: self-leveling compound for the couple low spots in the ply subfloor; backerboard; tile layout and cutting and laying, (etc., etc., ...)

-Chris

Thanks for all the great info, Paul.

you can also get the equivalent of a scroll saw blade that is coated with diamonds.

I'm sure that a powerful router like a 1590 could easily cut ceramic tile (with the right bit).

Heck, I just remodeled one of our bathrooms and for those tiles that needed odd cuts and round notches, I used a Dremel. That little Dremel chewed through the tile like butter.

Jack

TheNewGuy wrote:

My son went nuts when he saw this picture:

Bob