Tile cutter is a tool that is designed for cutting ceramic tiles. By the way they work, tools are divided into two main groups: manual and electric.
Types of tile cutters
The device of a manual tile cutter is quite simple. It consists of a diamond or titanium cutting element, characterized by high wear resistance, ruler, floating base and guide. The ruler is designed for smooth and fine cutting, the floating base - for convenient chipping tiles, and the guide prevents the cutting part from playing.
The most common manual tile cutter is the tile cutter-tongs (or nippers). In their appearance, they are similar to ordinary pliers. When working with a tool, an enamel cut is made in the right place with a
diamond disk , and then the tile breaks off using the corner of the nippers.
Manual tile cutter, as a rule, is used if it is necessary to cut a small amount of material with a thickness of not more than 15 mm. It is also worth considering that the tool can be of various lengths, the choice of which depends on the type of material. So, for example, for processing wall tiles, the thickness of which is not more than 8 mm, a tile cutter with a length of not more than 40 cm is taken.
Some handheld tile cutters may optionally be equipped with a circular cutter ("ballerina"), which is used to cut circular holes in the tile. Thanks to the ballerina, you can cut a hole for pipes with a diameter of up to 80 mm.
If it is necessary to process a thick tile, or a large amount of work remains to be done, then it is better to choose an electric tile cutter. When choosing a power tool, you need to pay attention to the following indicators: power, maximum depth and length of cut, circle diameter, table size, weight, time of continuous operation of the machine.
Choosing a manual tile cutter
It is worth paying special attention to the choice of a manual tile cutter. Do not buy the first tool you come across. First of all, when buying, you need to consider how the tool holder moves along the guides. If the tool uses plastic wheels, then cutting accuracy is far from always ideal. Yes, and such a tile cutter will break faster. Therefore, it is better to give preference to a tool in which the tool holder moves along guides on bearings or on self-lubricating o-rings.
When choosing a manual tile cutter, you should also pay attention to the manufacturer, the base of the tool (it must be rigid), guides (must be thick-walled). Another good tip when choosing a tile cutter is to take a tile with you right away, which will be cut. And right in the store to test the tool.
And it’s also worth considering that it is best to choose an electric tile cutter for porcelain tile. Manual is unlikely to be able to cut such a tile, and if it can, then the result of the work will not be of good quality.
Thus, the manual tile cutter, despite the simplicity of its device, requires close attention when choosing it, as well as when working with it.