Tile cutting woes

[Pompey Monkey]

Hi,

I'm tiling a "wet" area around my shower tray but I'm having a real problem cutting the 330mm ceramic tiles.

Every time I try to snap a tile, the break veers off away to the side - And it's always the same side!

I started off with a wickes tile cutter - the first twenty or so snapped fine, and then I went through a whole box with the snap veering off in the same direction at more or less the same place. I didn't know if it was my technique or the cheap tool so I went an bought a Rubi Pocket 50

Initially the Rubi was a pleasure to use! light scoring and a perfect snap every time! But after about twenty cuts, the exact same problem is happening. The frustration is unbelieveable! :yikes:

Is it me? is it the cheap wickes tiles? is the cutting wheel wearing out?

The fact that the symptom is the same every time seems to discount the tiles being the cause and I would guess that a cutting wheel should be good for more than a couple of dozen tiles! So that leaves it down to me being the problem!

I have watched several online videos, but have not seen this issue being mentioned. Help me please!

 

[Brian the Tile]

try a new wheel

 

[Brian the Tile]

sorry and only score the tile once ,dont keep running the wheel over and over,may help

 

[Pompey Monkey]

sorry and only score the tile once ,dont keep running the wheel over and over,may help

Yes - I know to just score once, but thank you anyway - I may not have known this and sometimes the blinding obvious to you may not be so apparent to me

I have bought a new wheel and it is working ok again. Is it normal for it to become no good after just a couple of dozen scores? I would have thought it would last a bit longer!

Thanks for helping

 

[Stef]

After you have scored the tile sit it on a flat surface, ideally the floor & place a screw underneath where you have scored the tile.
Try & just use the tip of the screw & press down on either side of the tile & it should break through.
It will take you longer but hopefully save on a lot of tiles being wasted.

 

[beanz]

I would imagine its technique. Maybe you aren't scoring the tile properly at the start of the cut.

 

[Diggy]

Probably cheap tiles and technique tbh . Just one even pressure scribe should do the trick ( imagine rolling a ball of plasticine in your hand , not so hard you squash it , but not so little pressure you don't change the shape ) , also keep the bars lubricated , it makes the whole process a lot easier.
It shouldn't be the wheel , I'm been using the Star plus 50 for 5 mths on a site scribing porcelanosa floor tiles ( porcelain ) and barely had an issue , for the record i'm using a 6mm wheel on them works a treat. Also make sure the wheel is set at a workable angle as this can make a difference too , just play with it a bit.

Cheers

Diggy

 

[Pompey Monkey]

JUst did another 30 or so cuts with the new wheel with no issues. Only about another 45 to go. Not sure if it's my technique or the old wheel....
...Only time will tell! lol.
Thanks for all the advice

 

[beanz]

Probably cheap tiles and technique tbh . Just one even pressure scribe should do the trick ( imagine rolling a ball of plasticine in your hand , not so hard you squash it , but not so little pressure you don't change the shape ) , also keep the bars lubricated , it makes the whole process a lot easier.
It shouldn't be the wheel , I'm been using the Star plus 50 for 5 mths on a site scribing porcelanosa floor tiles ( porcelain ) and barely had an issue , for the record i'm using a 6mm wheel on them works a treat. Also make sure the wheel is set at a workable angle as this can make a difference too , just play with it a bit.

Cheers

Diggy

amen to that!

 

[Martyn Leeds]

20 cuts, 20 cuts, 45 cuts, 30 cuts to go...

a lot of cutting??

 

[beanz]

20 cuts, 20 cuts, 45 cuts, 30 cuts to go...

a lot of cutting??

What!?! It's a big shower! Lol

 

[Pompey Monkey]

What!?! It's a big shower! Lol

Lol! - The tiles extend round to the sink area and round a bit of boxing in too...

 

[andyb1]

Just what i thought an awful lot of cuts!

 

[thompsonbrown]

Hi,

I'm tiling a "wet" area around my shower tray but I'm having a real problem cutting the 330mm ceramic tiles.

Every time I try to snap a tile, the break veers off away to the side - And it's always the same side!

I started off with a wickes tile cutter - the first twenty or so snapped fine, and then I went through a whole box with the snap veering off in the same direction at more or less the same place. I didn't know if it was my technique or the cheap tool so I went an bought a Rubi Pocket 50

Initially the Rubi was a pleasure to use! light scoring and a perfect snap every time! But after about twenty cuts, the exact same problem is happening. The frustration is unbelieveable! :yikes:

Is it me? is it the cheap wickes tiles? is the cutting wheel wearing out?

The fact that the symptom is the same every time seems to discount the tiles being the cause and I would guess that a cutting wheel should be good for more than a couple of dozen tiles! So that leaves it down to me being the problem!

I have watched several online videos, but have not seen this issue being mentioned. Help me please!

The cutters you have don't really have a good breaking capacity. As Stef above says, score the tile and then break it by hand on the side of the cutter or on a raised flat surface.
My first tile cutter was bought from wickes in Gosport. Nice to here from tilers in Pompey.

 

[Pompey Monkey]

It was the tiles all along!

I was putting in the last row above my shower tray tonight and the first three snapped fine. I then went to the next packet and the problem started again... I had oiled the runners on the cutter and fiddled with the angle of the wheel. All to no avail - I wasted another six or seven tiles. To say I was getting frustrated would be quite an understatement...

And then I remembered that the ties had a "good" pair of edges and a "rough" pair. I tried a cut making sure that the "good" side against the stop. Another wasted. The next tile I made sure that the "rough" edge was against the stop. It cut OK! So I did that with the next...
...and the next...
...and the next...
...all good!

Obviously I was always picking them from the box the same way and therefore putting them in the cutter in the same orientation, so it was just pot luck how I started each pack and, of course, the run of bad snaps would continue!

I guess that there was some strain on the tiles when they were fired and the stresses just manifested themselves when I snapped in a particular direction. Anyone else ever seen this? Any ceramic scientists out there?

At least I got the job done

And thanks again for all the advice!