Cutting large stone and porcellain tiles

Solid stone is the perfect countertop and flooring surface, but it's expensive and requires professional installation. You can get an equivalent result for a fraction of the price by doing it yourself, using large format (2ft or 610mm squared) stone or porcelain tile. Those tiles have precision-cut square edges that can be set with a millimeter (1/16") grout line, so they look and feel like a solid surface, and are very easy to keep clean and maintain, especially if you use epoxy grout.

Such large tiles  have to be precision-cut for installation, which is hard to do without professional, large, expensive tile saws. This instructable shows how to cut these tiles using a tiny hobby diamond saw.

Step 1 My tiny hobby diamond saw

A small wet diamond saw is a must for any tile and stone work; they can be had for under $100 in home improvement stores. They are too small for the 2' tiles, though.

First problem is that the tiles are much larger than the table; I fixed it by laying a piece of plywood with a slot for the diamond blade. I plunge-cut the slot with a circular saw, and attached the plywood by driving drywall screws from the top, through some holes in  the tile saw's table into a piece of lumber underneath.

The second, more serious problem is that it's hard to make long, straight cuts with this setup. The diamond blade is very unforgiving of side loads, and will bind unless the cut is very straight. It's practically impossible to feed the tile by hand into this saw in a straight line, so even if the tiny electric  motor didn't stall the cut would be ragged. This instructable explains how to set up guides for perfect cuts.

Comments

[stony tile]

howdy folks i am new to this place but i may help by letting you know of the experience i have had with the methods suggested.if you use water you can use a squirt bottle like dish soap and squirt the hand held saw blade with one hand while sliding the blade through the tiles .when you cut it is very helpful to use tape of some kind (masking,blue painters tape like i see in the pics.even duct tape with watever will mark a line to follow because the blade will wander and you can not see the pencil lines under water or dust or saw sludge to see which direction to correct the cut.softer stone will scratch from the circular saw footplate so you may want to tape where the saw will slide on the stone.you can cut the bottom side up but the blade will chip the finished side more but if the cut is hidden that may not matter.also i have used the table top tile saws with the straight edge methods and plywood top similar to what is suggested but i like a scrap of angle iron to have less resistance.sometimes i c clamp the angle iron directly ( like a wood table saw)to the top if they are thin enough slices.i usually only use one fence to push the tiles through because the cut will usually require some correction to keep it in line with the mark by moving the tile one way or another.the longer the cut the more the blade will walk one way or the other.another variable is the blades will asually wabble back and forth so if you spin the blade and take several measurements with a tape measure you can average it out. i do use callipers for some of the saws i use but they are not able to get in the places between the blade and the fences and you need to try and ajust several times(as much as i dont like to)over and over untill you are satisfied with the results.and continue to check and recheck your work because the results will change.guaranteed.i cut the smallest stone tiles that i know of and they require accuracies of 1000's of an inch so i dont like to slop things up if you google (stony tile) you can see what small tiles that i cut for my personal use looks like.not to plug my work but to show that i do what i say. any way enjoy and if there is any way i can help please dont hesitate to ask . . .Stony

[stony tile]

like this.hope it helps.It works also to cut cement board thin slices neatly away from the board.

[diamondsawblades]

When using diamond blades , one key point is that you should not force the diamond blade. You should let the blade cut at its own speed. Otherwise the blade may be damaged.

[dragonvpm]

Stone countertops are really heavy so you generally don't want to be moving them when you are cutting them. Your best bet is to move the tool that's doing the cutting. The professional granite/stone installers that I've seen use a normal circular saw with a diamond blade to make long straight cuts on countertops and an angle grinder if they need to do something a bit smaller (e.g. cutting out an opening for an outlet or light switch). If you don't feel you can do a straight enough cut freehand then you can carefully clamp a straight edge of some sort to the material and then use that as a guide to keep your cut straight.

[sensoryhouse]

He is talking about stone tile countertops - which would be cut piece by piece outside or in the garage and then installed.

[dragonvpm]

Did you actually read the instructable? 2' x 2' tiles are basically as deep as your average countertop. A tile saw big enough to cut tiles that large is going to be hard to come by even if you're just looking to rent one. The tile saw used in this Instructable is NOT designed to cut tiles that large and it's been my experience that once you're trying to cut something bigger than your tile/table saw can accommodate you're usually going to be better off (not to mention safer) leaving the material that you're cutting in place and moving the tool that you're cutting with. The method I suggested is one that I've used for cutting 2'xN' countertops and it's the same method that professionals I've worked around use.

Furthermore, if you're looking to do something like this as a one time DIY project, it'll be cheaper to buy a couple of 7" diamond blades for your circular saw than buying a wet tile saw.

[sensoryhouse]

Actually your average granite/marble countertop is 3cm or about 1 1/8" thick. I doubt these tiles are even half that.

I do agree that the best (and cheapest) way to cut these tiles would be a circ saw and a straight edge - although one blade is easily enough to cut a whole kitchen. You can get a 7" DeWalt diamond blade at HD or Lowe's but I would recommend getting a blade with a higher tooth count from a granite fabricators supply shop.

Also, using water will yield a cleaner cut ,longer blade life, and a lot less dust but its not 100% necessary. We usually use a large wet sponge to apply the water. If you do use water make sure your saw is plugged into a GFCI outlet though.

[dragonvpm]

Even at half that size or less I still think that a 2'x2' stone tile is likely to be heavy enough that it would be difficult for a lot of people to work with on a tile saw if it's not designed to cut something that large.

I mentioned a couple of blades because in my experience it's not hard for someone who is inexperienced to burn through one while they're learning. It's not hard to get the hang of it, but I've found that having a brand new blade that you can jump to makes people less likely to try to finish with a blade that's a worn out.

I agree that using water will yield a better cut, but I'd be a little reluctant to suggest it given the potential dangers associated with working with water and a power tool (particularly one that's not meant for use in a wet location). In my experience if you factor in side and back splashes you can get good cut even without water. Although perhaps the thing to do would be suggest both options and let folks do a few test cuts dry vs wet and see what cutting method will work better for their project.