Electric tile cutter
The electric tile cutter cuts with a diamond-coated disc driven by an electric motor. In addition, the motor moves the table with the tile fixed on it or the head with the disc (depending on the model) along the mowing line of the cut.
Discs are used, called wet cutters. They provide a high quality cut but need liquid cooling. Different models use two cooling methods:
- a container with water is installed under the base of the tile cutter, so that the lower part of the disc is immersed in it;
- running water is supplied to the disc.
Greapo PTC1200 manual electric tile cutter
When working, observe the following rules:
- The rotation speed of the disc at the beginning and end of the cut is slowed down.
- Hold the tile with your hands with sufficient force to avoid vibration. The module is pressed with hands on both sides of the incision.
- When using a tool with non-flowing cooling, the water in the container is changed more often, otherwise the disc will capture the debris accumulating in it, which will negatively affect the quality of the cut and the resource of the cutting element.
A disc clogged with crumbs is cleaned by cutting a brick of pressed sand with it or installing it with the back side (in the absence of an indicator of the required direction of rotation).
How to cut porcelain stoneware
What method to process porcelain stoneware tiles directly depends on the volume of material:
- if it is supposed to use cladding material in small living quarters, then manual processing with a tile cutter can be dispensed with;
- to increase productivity when processing large volumes of tiles, you will need a power tool.
When working with a manual tile cutter, the processing is very slow and not always of high quality, since when the cutting part of the tile cutter leaves the plate, chips appear on its surface. Therefore, it is recommended to cut porcelain stoneware from the front side, regardless of the tool used.
The advantage of a manual tile cutter is that there is no dust and noise when working with it, but this cannot be avoided with power tools.
Drill
As strange as it may sound, an electric drill is often used to cut porcelain stoneware. Using the “crown” or “ballerina” nozzle in the tile, you can make a round hole of the required diameter.
How to cut small tile without a WET SAW
The crowns have a given diameter, and the ballerina works like a compass, so she is used to make a large hole.
A circular saw
Refers to professional equipment and is used for large-scale processing of ceramic tiles. During the cutting process, tiles must be fed by hand, which increases the risk of injury.
To cut porcelain stoneware at home, this saw is not always suitable. Before making a choice, you need to weigh how useful it will be in the future, it may be easier to get by with improvised tools, for example, an angle grinder.
We cut porcelain stoneware with a tile cutter
To process porcelain stoneware tiles, it is most effective to use specialized electrical equipment.
Professionals who have to cut large volumes of hard tiles work with a water-cooled cantilever electric cutter.
Can porcelain stoneware be cut with a hand-held tile cutter? You can, but there are restrictions. For example, you cannot cut strips narrower than 0.6 cm with this tool. Tile thickness for most tile cutter models should not exceed 12 mm. Well, it will be quite time consuming to complete a large amount of work.
How to cut porcelain stoneware with a tile cutter
How to cut porcelain stoneware, how to do it
Porcelain stoneware is a facing material made from natural raw materials. It possesses high indicators of strength and wear resistance. Thanks to this, porcelain stoneware slabs are used for both interior and exterior decoration of premises.
Despite the high hardness of the material, it is quite fragile. often during cutting, chips appear on the front part. But this can be avoided by choosing the right tool.
Simple solution: cut porcelain stoneware angle grinder
An angle grinder is a power tool that many have on the farm. If necessary, you can borrow it from a neighbor, friend or relative. Differs in versatility and is able to cope with a variety of tasks.
Can an angle grinder cut porcelain stoneware? an angle grinder will help out a home craftsman in the absence of a specialized tool. It is enough to purchase the necessary components and carefully follow the technology. But it should be borne in mind that this tool is only able to cope with tiles of medium thickness. from 5 mm to 15 mm. For thick technical surfaces, professional tools such as an electric tile cutter should be used.
The quality of work largely depends on the equipment. What disc to cut the porcelain stoneware angle grinder? A diamond wheel for hard materials is ideal.
A good quality of cut is guaranteed by a thin diamond disc on porcelain stoneware for an angle grinder with a continuous cutting edge. Due to its small thickness, such a nozzle works with high accuracy.
Cutting porcelain stoneware with an angle grinder: how to saw off without chips
Everyone who has had a chance to cut faience, ceramics, porcelain stoneware with a cutting disc knows perfectly well that the problem is not how to cut. Such an operation is not particularly difficult. The problem is learning how to cut a porcelain stoneware angle grinder without chipping. At the same time, control the process at any stage, otherwise the expensive material will go to scrap.
The best way to cut porcelain stoneware is using a guide bar as a support for the angle grinder case
Direct cutting of porcelain stoneware
It is considered correct to cut a porcelain stoneware slab on a table or workbench. The material is laid on the table top, fixed with clamps with rubber tips. the cut line should be outside the table surface. In this case, it is possible to cut porcelain stoneware with a very small angle of inclination, only 15-20 degrees. The master simply pulls the angle grinder towards himself, only lightly resting his hand on the stand.
Cutting Option Pull Angle Grinder
Why this method is good:
- The minimum load on the hands, if you need to cut a sufficiently long seam, this will not be difficult to do;
- the cutting line turns out to be even, it seems that the cutting was carried out not by an angle grinder, but by a tile cutter.
The only disadvantage of this method is that most of the dust escaping from under the disc falls on the floor, and the largest parts fall into the face and hands of the worker. Therefore, it is necessary to cut porcelain stoneware with protective goggles and using devices for collecting dust.
Useful Tips
There are various models of angle grinder attachments on sale, some of them provide connection of the vacuum cleaner nozzle to the protective cover of the tool. At first glance, the thing is quite convenient, but it is better not to use such devices, since the hose greatly interferes with the work and often only worsens the quality of the seam.
In addition, it is necessary to cut porcelain stoneware, be sure to hold the body of the angle grinder with two hands, while the left hand should rest on the stand or guide rail, and the right hand is directly moving the tool. This method provides not only partial unloading of the hands, but also allows you to more accurately align the position of the cutting disc in the vertical plane.
Regardless of which disc and how to cut the porcelain stoneware, after the completion of the work, the edge must be rubbed with hand or tape emery. In this case, you just need to slightly align the lower edge of the porcelain stoneware and in no case touch the upper front edge with an abrasive, otherwise chips will appear, and the quality of the seam will noticeably deteriorate.
Is it possible to cut the porcelain stoneware angle grinder
Of course, an angle grinder can cut anything you want, with the possible exception of glass or particularly complex ceramic products. But it is not so easy to cut the porcelain stoneware with an angle grinder so as to achieve a perfectly straight cut line.
Of all the reasons that prevent high-quality cutting of porcelain stoneware, the most important ones are distinguished:
- an angle grinder is a hand tool, and often the material has to be cut, as they say, by weight, as a result, the disk deviates from the cutting plane, this leads to the formation of chips, and sometimes cracking of porcelain stoneware;
- The cut-off wheel is not selected correctly. In the first experiments, beginners try to cut porcelain stoneware with cut-off vulcanite discs over stone and concrete. With this material, you can cut off a small part of the tile, but most often the result is negative;
- Incorrect cutting mode or no cooling of the cut line. The desire to cut off faster leads to excessive pressure on the tool, as a result, the circle and the tile itself break, not to mention the fact that the entire line of the cut remains covered with chips and microcracks.
In theory, cutting porcelain stoneware is no more difficult than any other facing material, you just need to choose the right mode, cutting speed, pressing force and correctly choose the cutting tool.
If you cut an angle grinder by weight, then chips must appear
Cutting an angle grinder on the weight is possible only for those who have strong enough hands. If you have to saw at least 20 cm in length, then even experienced and strong craftsmen get tired hands very quickly, the circle begins to deviate from the vertical plane, as a result, the seam begins to wag, and chips appear.
Sole-based cutting
What disc to cut porcelain stoneware angle grinder
Sawing of porcelain stoneware tiles can be done in two ways, it all depends on the thickness of the material and on how complex the seam is to be cut. Since porcelain stoneware is still not granite, but just an artificial imitation of it, two types of discs can be used for cutting:
- Vulcanite discs based on synthetic superhard ceramics. With such a circle, you can cut thin grooves, corners, trim the edges. In order to cut expanded clay, an angle grinder over a length of more than 10 cm, they are not suitable, but they are quite suitable for small jobs;
- Diamond cutting discs. With this tool, you can cut seams of unlimited length. The only drawback of a diamond is the rapid grinding of the cutting edge, which will need to be repaired and cleaned periodically.
The optimum wheel diameter for an angle grinder is 115 mm, in which case the tool is easier to control by holding the body with both hands. For a larger diameter blade, you will need to use a more powerful tool, such as a circular saw.
Diamond cutting wheels in themselves are quite an expensive and capricious tool, therefore they try to do most of the work with vulcanite discs, only the most delicate operations, such as trimming and adjusting the plane, are performed with diamond powder.
In addition, the angle grinder should have a solid edge without a notch or turtle profile for cutting porcelain stoneware. Such a tool cuts well natural granite, rubble stone, but at the slightest attempt to cut porcelain stoneware tiles along the cutting line of the cut, a huge number of enamel chips appear on the front surface.
If there is no particular preference for a well-known brand of cutting disc manufacturer, then it is best to buy discs from leading hand tool manufacturers. Simply put. bought an angle grinder made by Makita, buy cutting discs with attachments manufactured by the same company.
How to get rid of dust when cutting porcelain stoneware angle grinder
If the tiles are being cut on a table, then, before starting work, a small piece of loose fabric must be pulled under the cutting line or a polypropylene bag must be hung. In this case, most of the dust flies down from the disk, so the amount of work on cleaning the room is reduced several times.
If you cut porcelain stoneware on a substrate directly on the floor, then the best solution would be to use a regular vacuum cleaner. The tip of the hose is attached along the mowing line of the movement of the angle grinder at a distance of 10-15 cm. It turns out not very convenient, since the nozzle has to be rearranged, but the dust is removed quite effectively. Immediately after completion of work, you need to blow out the angle grinder and collect part of the dust remaining on the surface of the porcelain stoneware.
How To Correctly Cut A Highly Raised Angle Grinder
Most beginners and DIYers prefer to cut porcelain stoneware with a tool with a very large angle of inclination relative to the plane of the tile. The angle can be 45-60 °.
The tool can only be lifted high if there is a supporting surface on the cover
In this case, the angle grinder must be held with both hands and at the same time perform small oscillatory movements with the cutting disc. It is as if the porcelain stoneware had to be cut with a hand saw. This is not very convenient, but the method really improves the quality of the cut and prevents the formation of chips.
On the one hand, with such a movement, the angle grinder is easier to control the cutting line, on the other hand, the tool is in an unstable position relative to the markings, which negatively affects the quality of the straightness of the seam.
Power tools for cutting porcelain stoneware
Power tools in the form of:
- electric tile cutter;
- Angle Grinder;
- jigsaw;
- circular saw;
- drills with a ballerina;
- waterjet installation.
How to cut porcelain stoneware without chips
At first glance, it seems that porcelain stoneware is difficult to process and cannot be cut with your own hands. However, if you adhere to the recommendations of specialists, then everyone can do it.
As already mentioned, regardless of the selected tool, you should start cutting porcelain stoneware exclusively from the front side, since chips tend to appear when the tool leaves the tile.
When cutting porcelain stoneware with a power tool, control the speed of the cutting blade: at the beginning and at the end, it should be reduced.
You can learn more about the cutting process with a manual tile cutter from the instructions that came with it.
How to cut porcelain stoneware, how to do it
- How to cut porcelain stoneware
- How to cut porcelain stoneware without chips
- Power tools for cutting porcelain stoneware
- Electric tile cutter
- Angle Grinder
- Jigsaw
- A circular saw
- Drill
- Waterjet installation
Porcelain stoneware is a facing material made from natural raw materials. It possesses high indicators of strength and wear resistance. Thanks to this, porcelain stoneware slabs are used for both interior and exterior decoration of premises.
Despite the high hardness of the material, it is quite fragile. often during cutting, chips appear on the front part. But this can be avoided by choosing the right tool.
Angle Grinder
You can also cut porcelain stoneware at home with an angle grinder. To do this, you need to purchase a diamond-coated disc with a thickness of 2 mm and an edge width greater than the thickness of porcelain stoneware.
REMEMBER! When working with an angle grinder, place the disc on the correct side and be sure to protect your eyes with glasses, as many chips are formed during processing. Cutting should be done in one step, otherwise the cut will be uneven. You also need to leave a margin of a few millimeters for sanding the edge.
Electric tile cutter
Diamond spraying on the electric cutter disk allows you to cut porcelain stoneware of different thicknesses and lengths. There are various models of such tools: in some, the disc moves along the tile, in others the table is moved by the engine.
The advantage of this tool is that it uses so-called “wet-cut discs”, that is, water is used to reduce the formation of dust when cutting tiles. In some models, a container with water is installed under the disc, into which the disc itself is partially immersed. For others, the disc is moistened with running water.
IMPORTANT! When working with wet cutters, you need to monitor the degree of contamination of the disc, clean it in time and change the water, otherwise the cut quality may significantly decrease.
Drill
As strange as it may sound, an electric drill is often used to cut porcelain stoneware. Using the “crown” or “ballerina” nozzle in the tile, you can make a round hole of the required diameter.
The crowns have a given diameter, and the ballerina works like a compass, so she is used to make a large hole.
How to cut porcelain stoneware
What method to process porcelain stoneware tiles directly depends on the volume of material:
- if it is supposed to use cladding material in small living quarters, then manual processing with a tile cutter can be dispensed with;
- to increase productivity when processing large volumes of tiles, you will need a power tool.
When working with a manual tile cutter, the processing is very slow and not always of high quality, since when the cutting part of the tile cutter leaves the plate, chips appear on its surface. Therefore, it is recommended to cut porcelain stoneware from the front side, regardless of the tool used.
How to Cut Porcelain Tile Without Making Mess
The advantage of a manual tile cutter is that there is no dust and noise when working with it, but this cannot be avoided with power tools.