Tile cutter failure

CiB

I'm tiling our bathroom, but can't seem to use the tile cutter properly. Is anyone on here good at tiling and can tell me what I'm doing wrong? I bought this - http://www.wickes.co.uk/Wickes-Wall+Flo ... m/p/514106 - which is ok for the tiles I'm using acc to the box & the blurb. When I use it tiles either break in a non-straight line near to the score veering off toward the edge (a non-clean break), or they break unevenly across the middle at right angles to the score. Gah.

Is there a technique that I'm missing? Tried single score, running back & forth to make it deeper; no joy. Tiles are 300mm square 8mm thick, with a coarse glaze.

Ta.

Ah - just read the reviews. I think I can see the problem.

veronese68

I usually borrow a professional tile cutter off a neighbour that has since given it up. That does look like it might be a bit rubbish, I can't see any reviews but I guess they are bad. Usual advice I'd give is to make a single deep score, so apply quite a bit of pressure. Coarse glaze might make it harder to get through in one continuous score.
You could use a wet wheel or an angle grinder but thay are much slower and noisier. Especially the angle grinder, I wouldn't recommend it.

daniel_b

I used to try one of those, but after borrowing a wet cutter, bought one of these, and yes it can be messy, but it's fast and accurate, minimal breakages.

http://www.screwfix.com/p/vitrex-113402nde-450w-torque-master-tile-saw-240v/60888

keef66

When I did our bathroom I borrowed one of the electric tile cutters off a colleague. So impressed with it I bought my own. It's a bit noisy / messy so I use it outside or in the garage (it uses a water tray to cool the disc and suppress dust, so it sprays a bit of slurry about) . Safety specs / goggles a must though; the occasional flying shards of glaze are a hazard!

Nothing flash, just a cheap thing from Argos, but it does a very good job.

veronese68

I suppose fast is a relative term, a scoring type cutter will cut a tile in a couple of seconds with no mess or flying bits of tile. A wet wheel is great if you need to take a square section out of a tile or something, but for a straight cut give me the scoring type (if reasonable quality) every time.

bbrap

As above, use a carbide cutter for straight lines. Once scored lay score side up over a matchstick (underneath tile along score line) and press each side down, will break cleanly along line. Some cutters have a wedge type mechanism for breaking the tile once scored, however unless the tiles are thin they often do not break cleanly as they only apply pressure at one end of the score. For cut outs and fancy shapes use a water cooled cutter with a diamond edged blade, bit messy but very little in the way of breakages.

itboffin

buy cheap buy twice matey

pilot_pete

Yea, depends on the tiles as to whether such a cheap cutter is up to the job. I've used more expensive score and snap cutters to good effect but you would be as well either buying or renting a wet cutter. They make great clean cuts just about every time. Also very useful for 'nibbling' bits out of the edge of tiles if necessary.

PP

CiB

itboffin wrote:

buy cheap buy twice matey

Indeed.

Screwfix do one that did the job; only twenty quid but a bit more thought process including breaking along the score with the palms & thumbs not the tool itself and it was a breeze. Bathroom looking good and ready for grouting; OH impressed, so that's a shedload of brownie points accumulated, about to be spent on a 3 day working away trip.

pinno

Same as Keef, borrowed an electric one and then bought one for myself. I have cut thin tiles, thick tiles, floor tiles and slate tiles with it.
The shards are not too bad - depends what you are cutting. Glazed ceramic tiles can be occasionally tricky but just wear goggles.
I bought a Sealey tile cutter with bath.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sealey-TC180- ... Swwo1Xdmq4

The bigger the wattage, the faster the blade goes and the cleaner the cut is as well as less splintering.

Anonymous

Mini angle grinder with diamond wheel does the trick nicely :twisted:

earth

That's a manual tile cutter. They work on ceramic tiles because the desity is even throughout the tile but if you are trying to cut natual stone tiles then the crack will always follow the weakest path through the tile. You need a motorised tile cutter with a spinning disc. If you get one I suggest going to ebay to buy a higher quality one for the same price as the cheapest one from wickes. They are lubricated with water, make a real mess and are noisey but without the water the motor will burn out.

CiB

No need for motorised water cooled cutters. The Screwfix cheapy did the job more than adequately thanks as it was better than the original I got from Wickes that was made of cheese and perished elastic bands. It did exactly what it was meant to do - score a straight line across a tile.

pinno

CiB wrote:

No need for motorised water cooled cutters.

Philistine. They are very good and what man doesn't want to buy toys with motors? :roll:

Angle grinder, chop saw. mitre saw, 18v DeWalt Cordless drill, SDS drill...

earth

CiB wrote:

No need for motorised water cooled cutters. The Screwfix cheapy did the job more than adequately thanks as it was better than the original I got from Wickes that was made of cheese and perished elastic bands. It did exactly what it was meant to do - score a straight line across a tile.

If you cutting ceramic tiles then that's all you need. But they don't work for natural stone.

CiB

earth wrote:

If you cutting ceramic tiles then that's all you need. But they don't work for natural stone.

As that's what I was cutting and what I wanted advice on, the ones I bought worked perfectly. If I'd gone up to that level of spending I may as well have got a pro tiler in.

I agree about spending money on pointless gadgets, but not for a one-off smallish en-suite that should see me out.

veronese68

Power tools have their place, but if a simple hand job gets it done quicker and neater, why not?

rjsterry

Veronese68 wrote:

Power tools have their place, but if a simple hand job gets it done quicker and neater, why not?

<snigger>

pinno

rjsterry wrote:

Veronese68 wrote:

Power tools have their place, but if a simple hand job gets it done quicker and neater, why not?

<snigger>

Yep, there was definitely some mileage in that but my brain hurts and I couldn't string one together. It's been a long week.