Electric or manual tile cutting: what to choose?

A tile cutter is a tool that is designed for cutting ceramic tiles. By the way of working tools are divided into two main groups: manual and electric.

Types of tile cutters

The device manual tile cutting is quite simple. It consists of a diamond or titanium cutting element, characterized by high wear resistance, a ruler, a floating base and a guide. The ruler is designed for smooth and thin cutting, floating base - for convenient tiling of the tiles, and the guide prevents the backlash of the cutting part.

The most common manual tile cutting machine is a tile cutter (or pliers). In appearance, they are similar to ordinary pliers. When working with a tool, first a diamond disk is cut on the enamel in the right place, and then the tile breaks off with the help of a corner of the cutters.

Manual tile cutting, 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 should also be noted that the tool can be of different lengths, the choice of which depends on the type of material. So, for example, for the treatment of wall tiles, the thickness of which is not more than 8 mm, a tile cutter with a length of no more than 40 cm is taken.

Some hand-held tile cutters can additionally be equipped with a circular cutter ("ballerinka"), which is used to cut circular holes in the tile. Thanks to the "ballerinka", you can cut a hole for pipes with a diameter of up to 80 mm.

If it is necessary to handle a thick tile, or a large amount of work is to be done, it is better to choose an electric tile cutter. When choosing an electric tool, you need to pay attention to the following: power, maximum depth and length of cut, diameter of the circle, table size, weight, time of continuous machine operation.

Choosing a hand-held tile cutter

It is necessary to pay special attention to the choice of manual tile cutters. Do not buy the first tool that comes across. First of all, when buying, you need to consider how the toolholder moves along the guides. If the tool uses plastic wheels, the accuracy of cutting is not always ideal. And such a tile cutter will break faster. Therefore, it is better to give preference to the tool in which the tool holder moves along the guides on the bearings or on self-lubricating sealing rings.

When choosing a manual tile cutter, you should also pay attention to the manufacturing company, the base of the tool (it must be rigid), the guides (should be thick-walled). Another good advice when choosing a tile cutter is to immediately take a tile with you, which will be cut. And right in the store to test the work of the tool.

And still it is worth considering that the tile cutter for porcelain stoneware is best to choose electric. Manual is unlikely to be able to cut such a tile, and if it can, the result of the work will not be of good quality.

Thus, manual tile cutting, despite the simplicity of its device, requires close attention when selecting it, as well as when working with it.