Which 180mm blade for cutting porcelain tiles.

[Ollie222]

I bought a Vitrex 750 tile cutter the other day to cut some Wickes 600 x 300 x 9mm glazed porcelain tiles.

The standard blade chips badly so I also bought a Vitrex Hi Glaze blade 103406 which cuts better but still chips the edges a bit and has a bit of runout in it.

Is the runout in the blade likely to cause the chipping?

Any recommendations for a blade that will not chip or is it just what will happen with this type of tile?

If it's a blade I can go and pick up today that would be very helpful.

I've also tried cutting the tile both ways up and also tried covering it with tape first too but that seems to have little effect.

 

[Stef]

Contact Alan @ ATS Diamond Tools, they produce great blades at a great price, you won't be disappointed.

 

[Ollie222]

Thanks for the very fast reply Stef.

I was just searching the forum and saw reference to the ATS continuous blade being tested and it looked pretty good.

I take it these are mail order only and can't be picked up anywhere locally?

 

[Ollie222]

Just to update I've just ordered one from ATS so we'll see how I get on with that.

 

[Stef]

Ollie I bought 3 or 4 blades from ATS & I must say they are fantastic blades.
Don't be put off because they are on the cheap side, I'm using the continuous rim in my grinder & they are up there with the montolit pro-gres blade.

 

[Ollie222]

Hopefully I'll find out tomorrow if the post behaves itself and it gets delivered.

 

[mache]

Hopefully I'll find out tomorrow if the post behaves itself and it gets delivered.

How did you get on today ?

 

[White Room]

Ollie I bought 3 or 4 blades from ATS & I must say they are fantastic blades.
Don't be put off because they are on the cheap side, I'm using the continuous rim in my grinder & they are up there with the montolit pro-gres blade.

Really ???

 

[Stef]

Really ???

Yeah, have you tried them?

 

[White Room]

Yeah, have you tried them?

I have'nt but considering the price I paid for the montolit blade I'd give one a try next time if there that much cheaper....

 

[Stef]

I have'nt but considering the price I paid for the montolit blade I'd give one a try next time if there that much cheaper....

Mark, honestly I was shocked at how well the blade cuts. I used Marcrist for a few years then switched over to Montolit & the pro-gres was the best blade I had used until I got these through from ATS.
I would say there's virtually nothing between the 2 so as you can imagine your as well going with the ATS purely for the cost.

 

[White Room]

Well worth thinking about, the Dna blade in my wet cutter is good but the price:yikes:

 

[Stef]

I've got a DNA in my Dewalt & I'm not that impressed with it, I think the standard Dewalt blade I got with the cutter gives a better finish.

 

[Concrete guy]

I've got a DNA in my Dewalt & I'm not that impressed with it, I think the standard Dewalt blade I got with the cutter gives a better finish.

For wet saws Rubi, Dewalt etc then a continuous rim blade (of any brand) is going to provide a better finish, particularly on very dense porcelain.

Your standard Dewalt blade gave a better finish than the DNA not because it's a better blade - simply because the continuous rim design suits cutting porcelain better than a semi continuous rim.

The benefit of a turbo blade is more obvious when cutting dry, the design of the perimeter of the blade helps remove the waste material for the cut channel and also cool the cutting head. In a wet saw the water does this job and negates the requirement for a shaped or stepped segment.

Bricks, roof tiles, clay tile etc benefit from segmented blades to remove the waste material rapidly and you often don't need the same degree of finish on a brick as a polished porcelain tile.

So various blade designs suit various applications. So unless you have a specific blade for specific products i.e. one for each of marble, porcelain, ceramic, granite, quartz (which are available) the best all round product design is continuous rim. It will cut everything.

In an ideal world you'd use the following:-

Marble - electroplated or vacuum brazed blade or metal bonded specific for marble.
Granite - segmented (laser welded preferable)
Quartz - turbo
Porcelain - Continuous rim for dense material
Ceramic - Continuous rim for medium to hard material
Concrete - segmented blade usually laser welded

As most tilers don't really want half a dozen blades, the best all round is continuous rim in a wet machine. It might not be as fast as some of the other options, but the quality of cut won't be an issue.

 

[Ollie222]

Well the blade arrived yesterday as promised and I did a few cuts and the results are the best I've managed so far and look to be inline with the pictures of cuts posted in one of the other threads on here.

The best results are with the glazed side facing downwards and going slowly and this results in some small chips that can generally be tidied up and hidden.

I'll have a better go with it today or tomorrow and see how I get on.

One thing I did notice is that the blade is about the same width as the fence at the back so you to ensure that it's all well aligned.

 

[Andy Allen]

I would put some of the blame on the crap tiles your trying to cut.....are you wet cutting every tile ?

 

[Ollie222]

Yes I'm wet cutting all of them and I agree that I imagine the tiles are a lot to blame but this ATS blade is working better than all of the others so it is at least partly hardware related.