Tile cutter

[Leftum]

What would people suggest to cut 9mm porcelain tiles ?

 

[simplesteve]

Hi Leftum,
To a certain extent your answer depends on two main things :- how long/many jobs do you intend using it for, and what size (length)of tiles you are cutting.
Most pro tilers argue between ‘Sigma’ or ‘Ruby’ ( I’m a ‘Sigma’ man myself) but these are designed for a long hard life and are expensive if you’re not in it for the long term.
For a diy’r maybe doing a bathroom or kitchen I would suggest buying something that is not necessarily a fancy trade name. It does need to have a bit of weight though- buy something too light or cheap and the main central rail ( or rails) will bend with the force you are using and you’ll end up with ‘ bananna’ cuts. Also note that if you have a 500mm tile, and you are cutting it length ways and at an angle, then the cutting length could be 600mm, so you need a 600 cutter.
A good ‘all rounder’ would be something like a “Big Clinker” ( or similar ) it’ll cut 9mm Porelaim all day long, and you can easily get spare new cutting wheels if you keep it. It’s not got a lot of bells n whistles, but will do the job…..

Separate answer if your looking at a wet cutter for notches and ‘L’ cuts.
Separate answer if you’re considering buying Used

 

[Leftum]

Hi Leftum,
To a certain extent your answer depends on two main things :- how long/many jobs do you intend using it for, and what size (length)of tiles you are cutting.
Most pro tilers argue between ‘Sigma’ or ‘Ruby’ ( I’m a ‘Sigma’ man myself) but these are designed for a long hard life and are expensive if you’re not in it for the long term.
For a diy’r maybe doing a bathroom or kitchen I would suggest buying something that is not necessarily a fancy trade name. It does need to have a bit of weight though- buy something too light or cheap and the main central rail ( or rails) will bend with the force you are using and you’ll end up with ‘ bananna’ cuts. Also note that if you have a 500mm tile, and you are cutting it length ways and at an angle, then the cutting length could be 600mm, so you need a 600 cutter.
A good ‘all rounder’ would be something like a “Big Clinker” ( or similar ) it’ll cut 9mm Porelaim all day long, and you can easily get spare new cutting wheels if you keep it. It’s not got a lot of bells n whistles, but will do the job…..

Separate answer if your looking at a wet cutter for notches and ‘L’ cuts.
Separate answer if you’re considering buying Used

Thank you very much for your helpful and informative answer.

It’s for a couple of WC’s at home. Not massive jobs but the tiles aren’t cheap, so I want something that’s stands a chance

I’ll have a look at the big clinker. Thank you again

 

[ETAF]

i borrowed a wet/dry cutter from brother-in-law and put a really good blade for porcelain tiles , and used for a porch floor and also for ceramic tiles in a cloakroom

Looked into it a lot and was going to buy one from topps tiles, but as i saw - brother in law happened to be comming down and hand one - which he got from B&Q

I have also cut porcelain tiles with an angle cutter and again a decent blade - BUT as it was dry that was not so good as i did get some chip outs

 

[drives]

I've done a few tiling jobs with this one:

https://www.wickes.co.uk/Wickes-Heavy-Duty-Electric-Tile-Cutting-Saw-230V---650W/p/215755

Has a few negative reviews but honestly never had a problem with it cutting porcelain tiles (using diamond blade). I've also got a rubi manual cutter but never use it, even for straight cuts, as just find the electric one easier. Guess it also depends what size your tiles are. I'm tiling a kitchen floor over next couple of weeks and the tiles huge (900 x 900 I think) so will just use angle grinder.