How to cut ceramic floor tiles?

I have purchased several packs of Ceramic Floor Tiles 400mm x 400mm for a bathroom floor retiling.

I have tried cutting these tiles with two Bunnings cutters (a DTA Tungsten Blade and Wheel grout remover and cutter) and neither even scratches the surface of the tiles. The tiles are 6mm thick ceramic CMNTO TAU MATT I/N: 0012635.

I expect I might need to purchase a QEP 540mm Promaster Tile Cutter from Bunnings, but I will not proceed until I have some assurance that this machine will do the job. $285 is a lot to invest in an inadequate tool.

Could you please advise.

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Accepted answers

Jewelleryrescue

Hi @Blair086

I hear you I would want to know if I spent the dollars it would work too. Essentialy the price differance between the cheapies and the more pro stuff is the accuraccy and consistancy of cuts. The cutting rails more sturdy less prone to movment My first tile cutter $40 range was a handyman version in fact I used it the other day is was loose and wobby but still scored the tile ok for my 6 cuts the pressure tile snap off did not work had to tap the scored tile on a brick corner.

But if you bought a tile cutter and took it home and it didnt work bring in straight back for refund as it not fit for purpose or get some help in operating it possibly as sometimes a little experiance tricks we all can learn will make a difference. Not saying you need it though.

I might want to try it in store with a tile if you grab a staff member to assist you. I am not sure what the store policy is on that.

Others use small angle grinders with diamond blades or I find masonary abrasive disks some time more to my liking. Less dollars than $285 with goggles and dust mask

So there is several options for you to consider.

There is also a mini

QEP 600W Master Cut Tile Saw

I/N: 6654641

$143.06

But I never used it to test it reviews where 3 out of 5 stars.

Hope your tiling experiance improves quickly.

All comments

Akanksha

A warm welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community, @Blair086 and many thanks for your question.

Our resident Bunnings D.I.Y. expert @MitchellMc is currently away but I'm sure will be happy to provide his thoughts on the abovementioned tile cutter as soon as he can.

Let me also call upon our experienced members @Jewelleryrescue, @diy_hausdesigns and @DIYMum to see if they have any thoughts.

Thanks for your patience in the meantime.

Akanksha

Jewelleryrescue

Hi @Blair086

I might want to try it in store with a tile if you grab a staff member to assist you. I am not sure what the store policy is on that.

Others use small angle grinders with diamond blades or I find masonary abrasive disks some time more to my liking. Less dollars than $285 with goggles and dust mask

So there is several options for you to consider.

There is also a mini

QEP 600W Master Cut Tile Saw

I/N: 6654641

$143.06

But I never used it to test it reviews where 3 out of 5 stars.

Hope your tiling experiance improves quickly.

Blair086

Thank you for this excellent (and very quick) response.

I have several Ozito tools with a shared battery so I have opted for an Ozito 115mm angle grinder (skin only) and a continuous rim 115mm diamond cutting disk from Full Boar. I will build a bench brace and see if this tool can create a shallow scoring line for snapping straight cuts, or cutting the full 6mm tile right through if this is not practicable.

I have also ordered a tile nipper tool for curved cutouts, with the assistance of the angle grinder. I realise the diamond blade needs to be operated wet so will run a trickling garden hose into the bench brace to keep it cool. This is a one-off project and not particularly large, so purchasing a full-blown cutting bench would have been too expensive.

Well done You, and Bunnings. Cheers.

Jewelleryrescue

Hi @Blair086

Thank you for your tick of approval Please let me share a little bit more experiance to help fast track you tiling skills.

I like ozito tools ok They arnt the best but they do work I own a few and I used to buy the best ,metabol tools. The thing with ozito tools i find is the accessory tools they come with are medium quality and soon wear out always good to buy extra quality say drill bits and blades for use with them. An angle grinder lets you cut round (if you use saw edge and gradual cut deeper.) notches any shapes in tiles the trick is not to score the tiles with angle grinder as it wont work as a neat break line. But do to cut all the way through and then sand the tile edge with the diamond blade if needed . Cut the tile 0.5mm larger and sand the edge clean to exact size as a guide.

I would buy a better quality diamond tile saw blade as cheap ones tend to chip the tiles. Probably less diamonds on the blade. I bought a bargin bin stack of 20 diamond blades and thew them all out as tiles badly chipping during cutting.

A wet saw will do a slightly better cut but you can cut dry too. I dry cut many 16mm marble tiles no extra dramas except the hazzard is tile dust so do this outside as indoors is crazy. I wear full faced mask with cartridge filter for cutting. Do wear dusk mask as a minimum and goggles for tile fragmets like glass in case they used silica in tile manufacture and no dust good for lungs anyhow a tile job not worth sickness. Our ozitos not designed for wet cuts electrically so no need to use hose as water may get in to windings etc you can spritz the tile 3 times during cut will help dust control .

If you want to make a jig to hold ozito angle grinder . Great 🙂 a traveling slide will do a better straight cut.

Some times i think about buying a good used wet saw working order for a bigger projects and then reselling it after and minimise costs. But never did it.

Once you start using angle grinder you wont use nipper tool so if you can cancel that order unless you have a particular need just tring to save you dollars to spend in a better direction.

Good tiling have fun creating.

Blair086

You have been very helpful and I genuinely appreciate your comments. I think I have a handle on this now and I'm waiting for my Bunnings delivery. I might leave some feedback on the product sale to make future DYI's aware that the simple score and snap process is possibly not enough for these tiles.

Thank you so much for your help.

Cheers

MitchellMc

Hi @Blair086,

No need to purchase the QEP 540mm Promaster Tile Cutter for a single job; that's a trade quality tool that a tiler would consider buying. The DTA 300mm Handyman Tile Cutter would be fine for your use. Also, consider hiring a tile cutter, as you'll get the quality of a trade tool without having to purchase it; that's what I would be doing.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Mitchell

Noyade

I bought a small electric tile cutter years ago from Bunnings - A Qep product which I never used at the time as circumstances changed, but I dusted it off yesterday and unpacked it.

To me it's a mini table saw which invites straight cuts - but looking at the blurb on the side of the box - round "pipe" cuts?

Then there is the "inset cut." Again, how?

MitchellMc

Hi @Noyade,

Those cuts are possible on the machine. However, I've spoken to QEP to confirm, and they are very basic stylistic illustrations that show what can be done but lack detail, such as the tile needing to be segmented to achieve those results. You'll notice on the current range that there are no mentions of similar cuts being made.

Mitchell

Noyade

Yes - just curious. If they're suggesting 'dropping' the tile on the blade to create an inset cut - very bad idea.

The manual is sparse with no mention of these cuts.

I'll give it a whirl on the weekend and let you know how it goes - straight cuts I mean.

Cheers!

Noyade

I played with this earlier - absolutely brilliant!

Not so sure why there are so many negative views with its big brother on the Bunnings website? They keep mentioning "chipping" on the edges?

Maybe my old tiles don't have much glaze on them?

However I do notice it leaves a small tag at the end, when cutting from the left.

Any thoughts as to why?

About to rain so I must pack up...

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