# Best Tile Cutter



## paulc (5 Aug 2008)

A little off topic I know , but have to get a tile cutter to cut some fairly thick floor tiles - 20mm - for bathrooms, have seen an Einhell 518fsg 518/g 600watt, for €40/£35. Will this do the job ? would stretching to €80/£65 make a big / worthwhile diferrence and if so what brand would you recommend.


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## lurker (5 Aug 2008)

We had or bathroom fitted out by a bloke who did a great tiling job on both the floor & walls.

He buys the cheapest cutter he can get and treats them as disposables.
Has 2 on his van, runs one until it dies & then uses the next. 

He told me the more expensive ones burn out the motors just as quick and its not cost effective for him to muck around with cutter changing.


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## andrewm (5 Aug 2008)

There was a thread about this a year or two ago, actually 4 years ago (Yikes). View then seemed to be that the manual score and snap type was quicker and gave a better cut for all but odd shapes. 

Andrew


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## Paul Chapman (5 Aug 2008)

I bought a fairly inexpensive one from Wickes when I had a lot of tiling to do for my daughter and it was fine. The only suggestion I have is to make sure that the table is large enough for the tiles you want to cut. They have a fence and you use them in much the same way as a table saw, so if you are cutting large tiles, you need enough room between the fence and the blade.

Cheers :wink: 

Paul


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## toysandboats (5 Aug 2008)

Hi,
I did a bathroom earlier this year - floor and walls - and bought the cheap B&Q version for £15. I thought that if it didn't work then it wasn't much of a loss. Not only did it perform brilliantly, but with a little ingenuity it could nibble out semi circles to go around the 100mm waste pipe.
Being electric with a water bath, it is messy so I used it outside but it did a fantastic job.
At the end of my work, a neighbour borrowed it to do his bathroom and the blade still had enough diamonds to do all of his.
I am amazed at the longevity of a £15 B&Q tile cutting machine, it's still got plenty of life left in it.

David


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## Richardhw (5 Aug 2008)

Something like this http://www.screwfix.com/prods/40530/Pow ... e-Top-230V
will do you just fine and you will never wear the blade out, I had a similar one for about 5 years and did a lot of tiling with it ( part of my job ).
But if the tiles are porcelain (VERY HARD) you may well have to buy a specific porcelain blade which are not cheap. these machines tend to be quite noisy so use ear defenders.
If you want to go the route of a manual cutter (score and snap type) Rubi is the name to look for, they are about as good as they come but as usual not the cheapest on the market, they will snap floor tiles easily.
After all this is said if it's just for the one job go the B&Q route and take it steady :wink:


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## RogerS (6 Aug 2008)

Just done some research myself on this including bending the ear of the professional tiler who has done two jobs for us.

His view was that the mechanical scorer types were much quicker than the wet diamond cutters for all but the finickiest of cuts. Certainly for straight cuts to shorten the tile or reduce its' width.

Rubi was mentioned but also the Big Clicka seems to get very good recommendations and it was so good I bought the company...sorry..bought one but not had a chance to try it in anger yet.

I have used the cheapie wet cutter from Screwfix and to be honest it does take forever cutting tiles down. Also if your tiles are much larger than 10" then the fence is not much cop and I ended up making another one. That's what pushed me in the direction of the mechanical one.


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## andrewm (6 Aug 2008)

RogerS":5cl10cvr said:


> Rubi was mentioned but also the Big Clicka seems to get very good recommendations and it was so good I bought the company...sorry..bought one but not had a chance to try it in anger yet.



Roger,

Do you have any details on this 'Big Clicka'? Google turns up nothing.

Andrew


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## RogerS (6 Aug 2008)

Sorry Andrew

Duff info....it's clinker

Roger


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## Deejay (6 Aug 2008)

Hello Paul

I've got a Pro User 450 watt version of this cutter. I've done a couple of kitchens and a bathroom with it and it's still going. It has cut old 1"" quarries, so you should be OK with 20 mm tiles. 

They are slower than scoring and snapping, but you can take off a couple of mm if you need to. No more nibbling away at edges.

As Paul said , the fence restricts the size of cut you can make. You can cut the scrap off with the fence, but I find it's more trouble than it's worth. I mark the tiles with a waterproof pen and cut them freehand with the fence off.

They are messy. The water flies off the wheel and bounces off the tile spraying everything with a fine mist of slurry. It's a good idea to have a few rags handy. 

One annoying thing, which may not apply to the Einhell kit, is that you have to tilt the water tray to get it out. This spills even more water about so I syphon it out with a bit of rubber tubing.

Cheers

Dave


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## andrewm (6 Aug 2008)

RogerS":163qy249 said:


> Sorry Andrew
> 
> Duff info....it's clinker
> 
> Roger



Now that is a beast. I have too many tools in my workshop as it is. Don't know if I would have room to store that as well.

Andrew


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## jasonB (6 Aug 2008)

The mid range Plasplugs will do 20mm, I've had a couple that I used until the bearings went, now use the largest Plasplug which is the "master" much more solid machine with quiet induction motor.

I only use the wet cutter for off shapes and natural stone, all straight cuts on porcelain & ceramic I do with a Rubi manual cutter, as its faster cleaner and quieter.

Jason


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## Anonymous (11 Aug 2008)

Has anybody cut 600mm square tiles with these saws/cutters? I've got a kitchen floor to do in a few weeks time. The Rubi cutters for this size are very expensive (considering I won't use it again after that).

I've heard a variable speed angle grinder might be a better bet. I had a look at the big grinders yesterday but they seem far too unwieldy.

My only other alternative is to get a tile scribe for a few quid. With a decent soft bed under the tile I thought this might work (even if it is a little more time consuming).

Cheers,

Dave


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## jasonB (11 Aug 2008)

I've done 600x600 polished porcelains on the small plasplug cutters as well as 600x400 slate. For a single job its OK but you would not want to be doing it day in - day-out.

You could look into hiring a large manual cutter, of see if your tile supplier lets them out, mine will let you use theirs for free if you buy the tiles from them. Though I have my own 700mm Rubi.

Jason


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