C
Concrete guy
There is a relatively new generation of Porcelain product that's hit the market in recent years that is incredibly dense. Far more dense than the grade 5 product we've been dealing with for decades. In the trade it is often referred to as Ultra Dense Material, Ultra Hard Material or Ultra Compact material.
The reality is the diamond tool manufacturers are still trying to play catch up on this stuff and the name "Porcelain" when applied to these materials is a little misleading.
Our main business being stone masonry as opposed to tiling this is something we've been trying to address for a couple of years.
Some of the better known brands are Dekton, Neolith and Lapitec. Plus much of the 20mm external "porcelain" can fall into this category also.
When Dekton first hit the market, the manufacturer spec was that it had to be submerged in a bath of water before it could be cut, this limited the product to fabricators who had CNC equipment of a specification that could cope. Meanwhile we were getting calls asking if we had 115mm grinder blades to be able to cut this stuff dry.
Porcelanosa Urbatek is also one of these Ultra compact materials. Designed more for cladding and countertops than traditional tiling.
One thing we have discovered is the ultra compact nature of these products mean they have more in common with vitreous (glass like) material in the way they behave when cut. To that end, specialist glass cutting blades (not something we sell) can often solve the problem.
Even then, as the post above by @jasper highlights, you still need a serious bit of kit to attach a good quality blade to in the first place.
Rubi tile saws were designed to deal with glazed ceramics back in the day and the odd Spanish clay brick. They haven't really evolved their design as the materials have increased in density over time.
The reality is the diamond tool manufacturers are still trying to play catch up on this stuff and the name "Porcelain" when applied to these materials is a little misleading.
Our main business being stone masonry as opposed to tiling this is something we've been trying to address for a couple of years.
Some of the better known brands are Dekton, Neolith and Lapitec. Plus much of the 20mm external "porcelain" can fall into this category also.
When Dekton first hit the market, the manufacturer spec was that it had to be submerged in a bath of water before it could be cut, this limited the product to fabricators who had CNC equipment of a specification that could cope. Meanwhile we were getting calls asking if we had 115mm grinder blades to be able to cut this stuff dry.
Porcelanosa Urbatek is also one of these Ultra compact materials. Designed more for cladding and countertops than traditional tiling.
One thing we have discovered is the ultra compact nature of these products mean they have more in common with vitreous (glass like) material in the way they behave when cut. To that end, specialist glass cutting blades (not something we sell) can often solve the problem.
Even then, as the post above by @jasper highlights, you still need a serious bit of kit to attach a good quality blade to in the first place.
Rubi tile saws were designed to deal with glazed ceramics back in the day and the odd Spanish clay brick. They haven't really evolved their design as the materials have increased in density over time.
