new tiler / help needed in wet cutter choice

[Hoppy]

thanks gents, a few questions, which model vitrex, bridge saw or table saw, whats a good blade, are we talking dna(i have`nt got a clue), what is the footprint on a dewalt machine (not the stand) whats a good grinder & blade?
regarding the bridge saws and dewalt, as the blade cuts from above when cutting a corner out of a tile does this mean you have to finish cutting with snips or something, i've always used a table saw which cuts from underneath, basically my main stream was plastering but the demand is more tiling. also as for used items i live at the end of the world in swansea, thanks again.

 

[JerryB]

I'm not a tiler (just done 1st serious DIY job), but how about an engineer's view of blade wobble. I have the Vitrex pro 750 cutter as in Timeless John's photo above, for its quiet direct drive motor, larger than average table, quick release fence, and price. On 1st switching on, guess what, loads of wobble. It seems many would send it straight back, but a little investigation seemed easier. The blade's drive washer is clamped against a small shoulder on the drive shaft. We can be sure that the machining of the shaft will ensure the shoulder is exactly square to the shaft axis. But it is immediately obvious that the shoulder is too small (around 1.5mm I recall) to provide positive location of the washer. How much wobble you get is going to be down to luck. So 1st step was make sure there is no grit/gunge/rust on the shoulder or washer. Then pop the blade on and nip up finger tight and rotate by hand to check for wobble. If its too much slacken the nut, rotate the blade 1/8 of a turn relative to the shaft and try again. Keep going till you hit a "sweet spot". You may need to do similar with the drive washer. By this means I got total side-to-side wobble down to 1/10 mm - which is as close to zero as you could wish. Its all too random and a lot of hassle, but the blade did remain undisturbed for the whole job. A better shaft design is needed, no doubt more expensive, and I guess a lot of these cheaper machines will be similar in construction so I wasn't keen to look around further.

One other thing with this machine is its plastic chassis, to which the table and motor are independently bolted. There being no rigid machined cast metal connection between the two, it was not surprising to note that the plane of the blade was not perfectly aligned with the machined grooves in the table, so you need to allow for this when setting the fence.

 

[JerryB]

Just realised I should have replied to wrighty also. The knife is'nt thicker than my blade, but its close!. It needed very careful alignment with the blade when screwing it on. Despite this I was also caught out by jamming tiles. Thats when I discovered the mis-alignment between blade and table grooves, as my fence which I had so carefully aligned with the grooves, was pushing the tile in the wrong direction. I guess you all have your own way of using these machines but what I do is use a 1m straight edge placed lightly against the blade, align the tile's cut line with this, and then set the fence against the parallel side of the tile. Of course if there is no parallel side, you just have to have a steady hand...

 

[bsc ceramics]

yeah what he said..ha ha

 

[Sam68MvAgusta]

Don't go for the nd200, I had one and it was the worst tile cutter i've bought. I've also got a dewalt, the blade does wobble now but I put it down to bending the blade too much trying to straighten the cutting line, it's still a great machine. I have just bought another Vitrex pro, they need a different blade in for cutting porcelain but ideal for in house.

 

[Hoppy]

SO : what size is the dewalt with the trays
had different views on the ruby nd200 ?
anybody like the husqvarna ts230 ?
whats a good blade for porcelain and ceramic tiles ? ATS, DNA, MARCRIST ?
ANY HELP WITH THE PREVIOUS QUESTION REGARDING THE DEWALT AND BRIDGE SAWS CUTTING FROM ABOVE.

CHEERS ALL....

 

[Sam68MvAgusta]

The dewalt when setup is quite big, don't know exact size as only use it on big jobs. it all breaks down into carryable pieces and doesn't take long at all to set up, the only downside to the dewalt is that it could do with a bigger slide table, you can only cut 600mm tiles comfortably, as I said before Vitrex pro with a quality blade will suffice, Husky's are expensive and don't have any experience with them, not yet anyway!!!

 

[GoneGuy]

I've got a Rubi nd200, only problem I had with it was the spacers on the motor shaft got bent and made the blade wobble, all sorted now and cutting lovely.
Which ever machine you go for make sure you have a decent blade and don't force the tile into it and you will have a nice cut every time.
Ps when I'm set up in customers house I use a plastic tray underneath to catch any water running off the machine

 

[Dumbo]

I had a rubi nd 200 and got an nd180 when the 200 was worn out both good cutters . The 180 was the proper one not the 180 bl .

 

[Blunt Tool]

Same Rubi nd200 strong reliable and good results with a descent blade!