How to cut ceramic tiles at home, without tile cutter: tips, safety measures

Ceramic tiles are a very popular facing material for non -residential and household premises - kitchens, bathrooms, industrial and warehouse services. It is suitable for floor and walls, hygienic, simple in care, inexpensive.

Content

Facing tiles are of various types, depending on the purpose, material, manufacturing. In this article, we will consider how to cut ceramic tiles at home.

Types of ceramic tiles and features of working with it

Actually ceramic tiles or tiles - It has the most widespread. It consists of sand, clay and natural minerals. It is burned and covered with glaze, which can have a different texture, receive any color and ornament. Its surface is glossy or matte. Such tiles have a small thickness, used for wall coatings, easily cut glass cutter, jigsaw, sharp cutter.

Porcelain tile - The tiles are floor, durable, large thickness. It is formed by dry pressing, burned at a very high temperature. It practically does not abolish during operation, a stand for acids, alkalis and other aggressive environments. Has a greater than the tile, it is cut with bulgarians Or a similar tool, but also afraid of blows, may be split.

Clinker - Strong tiles of large thickness, has a compacted base. It is made by pressing or more often, by the method of extrusion, which allows it to give it any form. It is glazed and unglazed, wear -resistant, frost -resistant, neutral to aggressive environments, does not absorb water.

Cotto - Strong tiles for the floor and external cladding. It is also made by extrusion, not glazed, has a natural gamut of colors, from yellow to brown.

Cottoforet - pressed tiles, which is made by double firing. The upper side of the tile is always covered with opaque glaze. Such tiles are very durable, most often used for laying floors in closed rooms.

Monocottura - a type of pressed glazed tile, which is made of clay. It is strong, dense and frost -resistant.

Majolica - Tiles having a coarse texture. The basis of the tile is red clay. The outer side of the tile is always covered with opaque glaze, and on top of it with a color image.

Faience - Tiles, the basis of which, white clay. The outer surface is covered with icing. Such a tile can be decorated with any surfaces, the main condition for operation is dryness. Next, consider how and how to cut ceramic tiles.

How to cut ceramic tiles with glass cutter at home?

Of course, it is most convenient to cut ceramic tiles with a tile cutter. However, a good professional device is very expensive, it is unprofitable to buy it for householding. For small in volume of one -time facing work, quite ordinary glass cutter is quite enough.

Conventional hand glass cutters are of such species:

Victitus - with a motionless cutter from cobalt and carbide tungsten. Inexpensive tool of low quality, quickly stupid, cuts unevenly.
Roller -with a set of round roller carbon-wolfram cutters, which are connected on a rotating plane, from 3 to 6 pcs., For alternating cutting. Makes a uniform cut, does not blunt quickly.
Oil - Similar to the roller, only has a lubricant reservoir in the handle, which reduces friction and helps to obtain a high -quality uniform cut.
Diamond - The best type of glass cutter for the tile. He cuts a sailed crystal equipped with a screw of adjustment. Amateur modification has an artificial diamond as a cutter, and professional is a natural multifaceted diamond that can cut tiles of any thickness.

The tile cutting method is approximately the same for all varieties of glass cutter, and is not much different fromcuts window glass. You need:

Organize the working surface: a flat sheet of plywood, plastic, or an ordinary countertop.
Wet tiles in cold water for about half an hour.
Put it with the front side up and mark the points for the cut.
Conduct using a ruler and a marker (pencil, sharp nail) line line.
The ruler is tightly pressed, and draw a flat line with glass cutter, evenly and tightly pressing it to the surface. The direction of the cut - to itself, from top to bottom from the long point.
Turn the tile along the cut line by placing a rail under it, or use the edge of the countertop, using pressure on the hanging part.
Clean and sand the surface of the cut.

How to cut ceramic tiles with manual tile cutter?

Manual tile cutter is an optimal device for cutting ceramic tiles at home. For one -time applications, it is enough to use glass cutter, cutter and even a nail. But if you have a lot of repairs with the cladding of tile or ceramic tiles, it makes sense to purchase this tool.

What is manual tile cutter?

The basis is a supporting base for all other tiles.
Guides for moving the cutter.
A cutter or cutting element is a solid metal video with a sharp edge, mounted on the axis.
The handle for moving the cutter along the cut line.

Such a device has significant advantages in operation:

The simplicity of use, provided by a simple design.
The use of the handle as a lever, optimizing the cutting force.
Accurate and even cut.
Universality - can be used for both ceramic and tiles.

If you do not have experience working with a tile, we advise you to practice unnecessary, split tiles to learn how to cut the tiles smoothly and beautifully.

So, how to cut ceramic tiles?

Apply on the front surface with a marker or pencil line line.
Fix the tile relative to the cutting element using special grades or free arm.
Apply a drop of machine oil to the video to reduce friction And the achievements of an even cut.
Raise the handle, bring the video in contact with the front surface of the tile.
Smoothly move the handle to yourself, trying to observe optimal power of pressing. Insufficient pressure creates an incision of insufficient depth, and excessive leads to cracks in the front surface.
Take out cut tiles made of tile cutter And, placing it with a incision along the edge of the table or putting a flat bar, with a sharp press to break it along the incision.
If necessary, clean the edge with an emery or stone.

Video: cutting tiles with manual tile cutter

How to cut ceramic tiles with a grinder?

It is very convenient to use an angle -grinding machine for cutting ceramic tiles at home or in alarm - a grinder. It can cut any tiles - tiles, porcelain tiles, clinker, cotto. The grinder can be performed not only with a straight cut, but also figured, and even cut holes in the tile. It is best to use a small, not very heavy tool with up to 1 kW. It is very good if the grinder has a drive speed controller.

And what disk to cut ceramic tiles with a grinder?

For one -time use, almost any disk is suitable. However, if you have a large amount of facing work, it is better to purchase the most suitable.
The best choice will be a steel disk with a diameter 125 mm, with diamond spraying, thickness at least 2 mm.
The disk of smaller thickness is less stable when working in manual mode, it can create an uneven cut, collapse and spoil the tile.

By the type of cutting edge, the following types can be distinguished:

Segmented - Diamond spraying is available on the very cutting edge. Due to the presence of segments and slots, partial cooling occurs directly during operation, and the time of continuous cutting increases to 1.5 minutes. Such a disk is used only for dry cutting.
Solid - It has spraying throughout the cutting edge, along the rim. For it, you need water cooling - periodic wetting the tile or using a spray gun. As a result, a very neat cut remains, better than when using a segmented disk.
Combined - combines signs of the above disks. You can use both dry and wet cutting. Compared to segmented, they cool worse, and compared to solid they have the worst quality of the cut.

With the help of a grinder, you can draw different types of sections:

Straight - ordinary cutting of tiles in half or into unequal parts, on the rectangular parts of tiles of any kind: tiles, porcelain tiles, ceramics. To make the cut even, it is good to fix the tile with clamps or, for small cuts, use a workbench.
Curly cutter or round holes diameter from 50-100 mm. The cutting circuit (circle) on the front and back side is noted, a line approximately corresponding to the circle is cut, albeit uneven, but not going beyond the circle. Then the segments inside the circle are cut along the diameter. Interior segments are broken out with pliers, the edges are aligned, then polished.
Zapovka - Cut of tiles at an angle. In this case, the usual cut of a straight line is made, then the tile is fixed and a ceramic layer is cut at the right angle, without violating the outer cladding.

Video: How to cut ceramic tiles with a grinder without chips?

Is it possible to cut ceramic tiles with a jigsaw?

The advantage of this tool is that it creates a cut perfectly accurate and even, and also makes it possible to cut in a very complex form.

Electric jigsaw It works quite quickly, the quality of the cut is quite satisfactory. Speed \u200b\u200band accuracy depend on the granularity of the file - the higher it is, the greater the speed, but worse the quality of the cut. Fine -grained saw For a jigsaw on ceramic tiles, it cuts cleaner, but slower.
Usually used electricBut for especially responsible points, where a cutout of a very complex shape and high quality is required, a hand tool is used. The speed of its work is many times slower, but the quality is much higher.
At the same time, you need to take into account that you can only work with any jigsaw with wall tiles small density. For floor porcelain, the jigsaw is not suitable.

So, how to cut tiles with a jigsaw?

Prepare the workplace - an even table on which most of the cut tiles, clamps for fixing tiles, marker or pencil for marking will be located.
Soak the tile in cold water for 1-2 hours.
Start the course of ceramic tiles at low speeds using the average pressure force.

When working with a manual jigsaw, the technology remains the same as with electric, but cutting is carried out in manual mode, with a special file with diamond spraying and much longer. In general, working with a jigsaw takes more time, but at the same time gives an excellent result.

Video: cutting ceramic tiles with a jigsaw

How to cut ceramic tiles with a nail?

If the house does not have a special tool for cutting tiles, and at the same time there is a need for such work as you can cut ceramic tiles? An ordinary nail may be suitable for this purpose.
The nail should be at least 100 mm (hundredth) and the corresponding thickness. Old Soviet steel nails are more suitable, but in any case, one nail is enough only for 5-7 tiles, Then it needs to be replaced.
And yet, only a wall tile can be cut with a nail, but not a porcelain tile.

The cutting technique with a nail is not much different from such work using glass cutter or cutter:

A line is drawn on the front side of the tile with a nail and a metal line (rail).
The cut should be even and as deep as possible.
You can spend another 1 cut on the back of the tile, but at the same time you need to observe maximum accuracy.
The tile is neatly blown up along the cutting line in the usual way.
Most often, the cut line must be cleaned and polished.

As you can see, there is nothing complicated, but it is still better not to abuse this way. It is quite tiring, and the quality of the cut is not very good, it will go a lot of effort to finish.

Hydroabraseic cutting of ceramic tiles at home

For the sake of justice, we note that hydro -carbonated cutting of ceramic tiles is the highest pillar of the processing of porcelain tile, as well as solid stones. The cut is perfectly smooth, does not darken, does not require grinding. With this method, you can cut out any figures, create artistic compositions from tiles. None of the other known methods gives such a magnificent result.

The principle of operation of such an instrument is the supply of a mixture of water with abrasive material under the huge pressure of a mixture of water. The rate of supply of such a mixture reaches 1 km per second, therefore, such a result is achieved.
It is clear that for such work you need special equipment. Hydroabraseic cutting It is performed on special machines, that is, on massive and rather expensive equipment. A similar machine can be bought and installed in a home workshop to perform very high quality work for yourself, as well as to order. If you learn to work well on a similar machine, you can earn good money on orders.

Significant advantages of hydroachase cutting:

You can process porcelain tiles up to 30 cm thick.
Unrivaled quality cutting.
Performing cuts of any complexity.
The edges of the section have practically no roughness.
The use of water for cutting and cutting eliminates the possibility of ignition and explosion of the surface to be treated.

Cut ceramic tiles using hydro -carbonated cutting at home, you need to strictly observe the instructions. And she, in turn, will be attached to equipment. Accordingly, the instructions for use of different equipment will be individual.

How to cut ceramic tiles at home?

Surely you already realized that cutting ceramic tiles with improvised means is quite simple, unless, of course, we are talking about straight cuts. But what if you need to carry out figured cuts, and the purchase of a special hydro -assembly machine is not included in your plans?

Then you can get by with a set of rather simple and inexpensive tools:

Special forceps or nippers - They are used for a small curvature of cutting. A straight line is cut off in the usual way, and then small pieces are riddled with bites until the desired figure is formed. Then the cutting place is carefully cleaned and polished.
Ballerin for holes - A special tool similar to the compass, which is inserted into the drill. The tip is placed in the center of the future hole, and the cutting edge when rotating the cartridge, cuts out a circle.
Lobby, electric or manual Designed specifically for cutting of particularly complex curves. At the same time, much better results are achieved by a manual jigsaw.
Ringed - It is also a nozzle for a drill, but has not a flat cutting edge, but a ring with many teeth. When working with a ring saw, make sure that the tile does not overheat.
Glass cutter - A tool with rollers of various diameters is used.

It is advisable to use tiles with tilted edges, small chips for curly cutting. They work with her so that this marriage falls precisely on the cut part. This will save a little and save full tiles for other work.

Video: Figure cutting tiles

How to cut ceramic tiles at home, without tile cutter: safety measures

The tile cutter is the optimal tool for homework on the processing of tile and ceramic tiles. It is not as expensive as a special machine, and at the same time gives good quality cut. However, you can do without it, using all the previously indicated methods.
It should be remembered that working with tiles is quite dangerous, and certain precautions should be observed. When working with the power tool, adhere to the instructions for it, follow the moving details - incisors, disks, saws. Take care of your hands.

In addition, there is a risk of expansion of small sharp fragments, ceramic dust. Therefore, it is necessary to use such protective means:

Eye glasses
Clothing, with elements covering the body - high gate, long sleeves and trousers
Working hand gloves
The respirator is desirable
When working with large pieces of tiles, you need to wear a helmet
With long work with power tools, put on noise -insulating headphones

As you can see, caramic tile cutting at home Available to almost everyone, is not particularly difficult. There is always the opportunity to make a beautiful cladding of walls and floor at home with your own hands.

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