Rubi TS-50 Plus - Pressure breaker....

[MelonStrings]

Hi all,

I'm on the second weekend of my first tiling job, and I've run into an issue with the tile cutter (or more likely the way I'm using it!)... I need to cut about 4cm off of the edge of a 25x33cm tile, the problem is that when I score and use the pressure breaker to cut the scored section off, the 4cm section snaps about half way down the tile, and the top of the tile (the part I want to keep) breaks in a curve shape at about 1.5cm from the score line and curves in toward the score line about 4 -5cm farther down the tile...

Am I doing something wrong? Or could it be the type of tile? It's working fine for larger sections of tile... Am I missing a technique or something?

Other than that, I think things are going OK... The walls are all over the place which makes it a little tricky, but I'm getting there. It's been a good learning experience (putting the stuff from the course into practice), and I know already that I'll do a few things differently next time.

Any help with the question would be great.

Cheers,
Melon.

 

[Rad2474]

I use a genesis not a rubi,doesn't the ts50 have a fixed breaking point? it should break a 4cm section ok though. (mine certainly does) is the scoring wheel ok? I'm sure some of the rubi user's will be able to help.

 

[doug boardley]

I got rid of my ts60 for the same reasons, ok on ceramic, but no good on porcelain, a tx 700 is far better

 

[Time's Ran Out]

Melon - You are probably doing something wrong as a 40mm cut should be well within the range of any Rubi.
I have just bought a classic T50 for the smaller tiles such as your using (as you get older even these Rubis are heavy).
For the smaller cuts - which you do not wish to keep - just scribe on your cutter and snap off with a pair of pinchers.
For the smaller cuts - which you DO need - scribe on your cutter at 80mm and snap/ scribe at 40mm and snap/ scribe at 20mm and snap/scribe at 10mm and snap/ anything less you've set it out wrong and will have to be grouted - or get the wet machine out down to 5mm!
Its something to do with equal pressure/equal amount of tile on both sides of the breaking point.
I always keep a set of hand held Oporto cutters ( a cutting wheel combined with a snapper ) in the tool box.

Timeless John.

 

[faithhealer]

I've come across this before with my Rubi, as of several others on the forum. As John says, it's down to equal pressure. It always seemed to happen on the same side for me so if it happened more than once, got into the habit of turning the tile around to the other side.

 

[David - Tradetiler]

If it's the 4 cm peice you need then fist cut a 8 cm piece and halve it. Some tiles can be a nightmare

 

[MelonStrings]

Thanks for the replies...

I think the machine itself is fine (scoring wheels etc) as it's brand new (well, 4 months old!, but this is the first time it's been used!!) and only scored and broken about 30 - 40 tiles!!

I ended up using the wet cutter after 4 consecutive bad breaks!

I'll try turning the tile around and see how that works out today, thanks for the tip.

The tiles are the cheapest that my Nan could find (the jobs being done on a really tight budget!!) so maybe they have something to do with it??

David, unfortunately it's the 21cm piece I need, the 4cm piece is for the bin!

Anyway, thanks again for the replies, I'll see how I get on today...

Cheers,
Melon.

 

[pud]

If they are a cheap as you say why not try the old fashion way.
Score e'm and snap e'm on matches this is the way i started when my uncle taught me to tile years ago when you had white and only white to choose from:8:

 

[Alan.P]

As others have said, sounds like a score / pressure problem, try and keep equal pressure on the arm full length of the tile, from edge to edge, also try a different wheel and different pressures, sometimes a lighter touch is needed, especially on cheaper tiles.

Try on some of the off cuts you have.

 

[smurf21]

Some tiles just wont give up the ghost porcelaine or not, when this happens score the tile and press gently on the breaker just so it gives slightly then turn the tile around and break from the other side this normally acheives the desired effect...
Or failig that as the others say whatever your cut size eg 40mm cut the tile to 80mm first then 40mm so you have equal pressure on both sides of your score line.

 

[MelonStrings]

Hey all,

Today went alot better. I used a larger diameter wheel and also experimented with pressure a little on some offcuts, it only happened once today!

Managed to almost finish today, only have about an hours tiling left to do, and then I'll grout it next Sat, and get all the accessories back up on Sun.

I'm fairly happy with it overall. 2 of the walls I'm really pleased with, managed to get the window centred on one wall, with nice size cuts at either end and top and bottom, the opposite wall was even better (and easier) so I got that looking nice too. I messed up on the 3rd wall, and can't work out how.

The wall was 223cm wide, so I took a centre line at 111.5cm, that would have given me a perfectly balanced wall, then I looked at the sink and though maybe the sink should be the focal point, I decided against that as I thought it would look better overall with the wall in perfect balance. Somehow between doing that and setting out, I ended up taking off about 4cm from each tile on the left hand edge, and putting in a stupid looking filler cut of about 4.5cm on the right hand edge and the sink isn't even centred!!! Arrrgh!!

I can't even look at the right hand edge now without hearing Tommy Walsh in my ear saying "measure twice, cut once"... If the job had been anywhere other than my Nan's bathroom, the whole lot would have come down and I'd have started again...

Alas, you live and learn, and this was the point of the first job really. Do it for a couple of Bacon butties, and get some experience under my belt. My Nan probably won't even notice unless I point it out to her...

Anyway, back to the original topic... Thanks for all the tips guys... I'm sure job 2 will go alot more smoothly...

Cheers,
Melon.

 

[Mozza]

Hi all i was hoping i could add to this thread?
I was thinking of buying the TS 50 plus but i was wondering how you would cut a corner on a tile with the breaker being fixed on this model???

 

[Alan.P]

Hi Mozza, as any other 2 way / 3 way cut, score the longest of the cuts ( normally ) on the Rubi, wet cut / angle grinder the other /s and snap with your nippers.

Hope that makes sense.

 

[Mozza]

Thanks Alan, if i getting what your saying right if i want to cut the corner off a tile i should first score with the Rubi then use the wet saw/grinder to finish the cut??

Would the Rubi TX 700 N be able to score and brake this kind of corner cut without need for a wet saw/grinder??

 

[MelonStrings]

Mozza,

If it's just a corner that you need out of a tile, the TS-50 will score it and you can break the piece off by snapping it with your nibblers, or by giving it a good hard tap on the top of the scoring arm (after you've positioned the arm vertically).

Cheers,
Melon.