Saturday, March 17, 2007

Tile Saw

When tiling a bathroom with porcelain tile, for the love of Jeebus, don't try to cut the stuff with a classic score and snap rig. It won't go well.

How do I know this? 'Cause I've tried. When creating perfectly halved tiles, the scoring method works okay. If okay actually means poorly. The score and snap rig is about as dependable as a 1981 Chevette's build quality. Which is to say nearly non-existent. When trying to create narrow cuts? It's as good as Britney's ability to keep her legs together.

Yeah, not so much.

The solution? A tile saw. Now, even here, you have to be careful. Why? The cheap tile saws are only rated for ceramic tiles. Try them on porcelain tiles and I'm not sure what would happen. Grievous bodily harm would likely be involved. But fear not, young grasshopper! I have found the answer. And lo, here it is:


The QEP 60088. The cheapest thing we could find rated for porcelain. For once, cheap does not equal flimsy. This little baby has been cutting through the 1/4 inch think hard ass tile (approx 8 Mohs!) like buttah.

Buttah!

Don't be fooled by the similar appearing 60087, seen here:

60087 = grievous bodily harm.

Grievous bodily harm = bad.

Now, back to the land of home improvement... body intact.

1 comment:

Tony said...

It is incredible what you can achieve with a good tile saw. This has been helpful but I will keep looking to be able to compare the available machines. Thank you for posting this.