Rubber horse mats 4x6x3/4. HOW TO CUT THEM?? anybody else use them??

drivesitfar · Oct 22, 2016

I've got both my garages at home and my shop with these rubber mats that are 3/4 inches thick and sometimes called and sold as HORSE MATS. anybody else use them?

i've had great success using a new blade in a utility knife, but my hands and wrists get very sore after cutting a few. anybody else have a different method they like to use please do tell.

i've tried cutting one with a circular saw and it smells and smokes like i'm at a funny car event (I guess not all bad), but never got a good straight line.

i've tried cutting these with a jig saw and it was slow going, but straight so maybe i'll try a few different blades. which one would you use metal, wood or combo?

any thoughts?

i've also just picked up some 1.5 inch rubber flooring that came from a high end gym that has some areas grooved in under it for cushioning so i could cut them along those lines which are only 3/4 inch.

wondering if one of my hand grinders with a cut off blade on it might make a nice quick cut. anybody tried it yet and want to share how and maybe post up a few pictures?

PT Doc · Oct 22, 2016

I used a circular saw with a fine tooth blade and it cut slowly but cleanly. I can't imagine how long it would take th a utility knife.

The Cobbler · Oct 22, 2016

I would try circular saw and make repeated cuts , each cut deeper than the previous .
TRy some liquid dish soap for lubricant

welder4956 · Oct 22, 2016

A Dremel oscillating tool like this one would be my first choice. Plus it gives you a reason to buy one if your don't already have one.

rburke65 · Oct 22, 2016

Those oscillating tools like pictured above are great tools. Used them to cut smart siding for the outlets in the shop.

drivesitfar · Oct 22, 2016

ALL: i have a Ryobi 18v, a dremel and better yet i own a FEIN and never would have thought to use one. i'll try it tomorrow on a 3/4 inch thick mat before i try it on the 1.5 inch ones. thanks guys

i do remember cutting grout out of a shower for about 4 hours that i was remodeling and my Fein worked great, but my arm was a mess the next day. it's not fun getting old, but being somewhat active i think is helping me somewhat compared to other guys i know my age.

PT: a sharp razor blade and the right set up with a 2x4 under each side of the cut and two passes and the 3/4 inch rubber mats are cut very clean and straight. if the Fein tool with the right blade on it doesn't work i'll probably just go back to the utility knife cause i didn't have very good luck with my skill saw last time i tried. thanks for your post and maybe i just need a thinner non carbide tooth blade on my Milwaukee worm drive next time.

drivesitfar · Oct 22, 2016

All: for those of you that are thinking these horse mats would be good for a garage floor i'd recommend them. the 4x6x.75 (3/4 inch thick) weigh about 90 pounds each so if you can keep them fairly tight next to each other they don't move much.

as far as being soft really NOT SO MUCH hence why i added the 1.5 inch thick ones on top of the 3/4 inch ones in my work area where i stand up a lot. hopefully they will help keep my back from aching. i also hang on an inversion table (Teeter Up) 5 minutes per day for the past 9 years and haven't been to a Chiropractor since i started hanging. i also quit taking ADVIL for sore back and neck then and had 1/2 a bottle of Advil expire that i had to throw out when i looked at the date and needed one for a tooth ache the date was 2 years prior.

thanks all for your help and any other ideas please post cause i need to cut these 1.5 inch mats soon and probably will try to tomorrow.

Shiftless · Oct 22, 2016

Drives:
I too have had a Fein Multimaster for many years. Back then they must have held a patent because that particular $$$ brand was the only game in town. It has made cuts for me where no other tool could have done the job. (I too have removed grout with the diamond abrasive blade.)
I have never cut horse mats but as a Fein user, I would first try this blade.

To get a nice straight cut how about running your Multimaster against a long piece of angle iron or something like that for a fence?

I use an electric knife to cut styrofoam and foam rubber. Might that work on those heavy horse mats?

Catmochanic · Oct 22, 2016

Know anyone with a shear....just pondering after a few Rum-n-Coke's?

drivesitfar · Oct 22, 2016

Shift: i think i have that blade and i'll give it a try. i also have that blade on a new Ryobi 18v vibrating tool, but i doubt it has the same power as our Feins do.

thanks for the 411. i was going to break out the utility knife today and ended up mowing the lawn and working outside since the rains stopped for a while.

Shiftless · Oct 22, 2016

Hey guys, this is GJ right? Home of the overkill. How 'bout a water jet? That would DEFINATELY get the job done!

Here it is cutting granite. I have heard the same tool can cut angel food cake.

Note: Like Cat I have a BAC above 0.00% at this time. (Boont Amber Ale)

Shiftless · Oct 22, 2016

Ducks idea of a knife blade is good.
There is a knife blade attachment for your Multimaster. Do you have one in your kit?
I use mine for cutting away old linseed oil putty from wooden windows.
(My house is vintage 1950)

drivesitfar · Oct 22, 2016

Duck: i've had 3/4 rubber horse mats in my 2 car garage at home for maybe 9 years now and not any movement in the middle including the side my wife parks my Honda in. that said i did use a utility knife to cut the few pieces so they would be tight from side to side. i do have them moving some at my shop where i don't have one side up against a wall or rack so i need to adjust them from time to time after rolling my pallet jack and pallet jack fork lift and carts over them.

Shift: i'll check. i bought a ton of blades with my Fein and luckily didn't have to pay the prices that were on them. i did have to buy a new tile cutter and thinking that blade alone was $30-40. i think Fein opened up the blades that fit them to other venders so non fein blades that will work cost a lot less (I think).

ALL: thanks guys for the help

risc · Oct 22, 2016

Score with a sharp utility knife and then fold the mat to open the cut, unfold and cut through the small remaining portion.

I don't think they're good for general garage usage. Stuff gets in the seams, they're hard to clean and they get torn up if you steer on them.

drivesitfar · Oct 22, 2016

Risc: that's how i've cut a lot of horse mats with a utility knife. as far as seams i suppose if you don't fit them tight you can get dirt in the seams, but i don't have that issue in mine.

not sure what you mean by steering on them, but mine are in great shape having me, my stuff and my wife's car moving around on mine for about the last 9 years. like I mentioned if you don't have them up against the side walls or racking to keep them from moving they will move even though they are heavy. i suppose there might be a silicone you could use to make them stay in place if you couldn't cut them to fit, but i haven't looked at that option.

Warrenator · Oct 22, 2016

I have cut many with just a skilsaw (circular saw) and whatever blade is on it, usually a freud Diablo. Follow a chalkline for straightness. Don't mess with a knife, it is slow and you will slip and make a mess of it.

They do stink a bit but horses do too. That's why they are outside.

I can't imagine an oscillating multitool works well as the rubber would just absorb the vibrations.

Shiftless · Oct 23, 2016

Warrenator said:
"I can't imagine an oscillating multitool works well as the rubber would just absorb the vibrations."

...........................

The Fein Multimaster and I suppose all the other similiar ones also move at up to 20,000 oscillations per minute. Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think the rubber can react that quickly. I bet Drives will report back tomorrow. He is good with that kind of thing.

risc · Oct 23, 2016

drivesitfar said:
Risc: that's how i've cut a lot of horse mats with a utility knife. as far as seams i suppose if you don't fit them tight you can get dirt in the seams, but i don't have that issue in mine.

not sure what you mean by steering on them, but mine are in great shape having me, my stuff and my wife's car moving around on mine for about the last 9 years. like I mentioned if you don't have them up against the side walls or racking to keep them from moving they will move even though they are heavy. i suppose there might be a silicone you could use to make them stay in place if you couldn't cut them to fit, but i haven't looked at that option.

In my experience, if you park on a mat and turn the wheels it kind of starts to tear into the mat.

drivesitfar · Oct 23, 2016

Risc: i haven't had that issue with the rubber horse mats i own that are 3/4 inches thick. are yours real rubber and 3/4 inch thick?

Also i've had maybe 40 clients buy upwards of a 100 more or less for their gyms and yoga studios and they are still in great shape. it might be a different mix in your area's rubber.

i know some of the rubber that some guys get from China that were made into dumbbells isn't very good quality and also stinks for years. mine did smell for a while, but can't smell them now and haven't for years.

Shift: I have a meeting in the morning, but after that i'm hoping i have that blade in my Fein box and i'll give it a try and let you and the rest of the members know. thanks

southalabama · Oct 23, 2016

Utility knife using a drywall t square straight edge.

drivesitfar · Oct 23, 2016

SA: i usually mark a line with a carpenter's pencil with my T square and then just pull it away cause it's hard to keep it in place and use all the pressure needed to get the knife through the 3/4 inch rubber. i suppose i could clamp each end of the T square, but i'd probably have to get the mats up higher and as you know moving these almost 100 pound mats around is a job in itself.

i'll try my Fein and my Ryobi 18v today and see how they work and report back both on the 3/4 inch thick mats and the 1.5 inch mats.

have a great day everybody and thanks for your posts and thoughts.

Milton Shaw · Oct 23, 2016

Nobody else has mentioned this but rubber cuts a lot better wet, any tool you use. That is why there are so many flats and other tire problems in the water hazards on cross country type races. Some construction shuts down when wet just because the tires cut so much worse.

drivesitfar · Oct 23, 2016

Milton: interesting. since i'm putting these horse mats inside my garage and part of the reason is to keep the moisture to a minimum so it won't rust all my old steel i'll pass on this go around. that said i do have more to cut to protect the driveway in front of my shop and i'll see if you are correct in this instance when i cut those that are sitting in the rain currently and should be plenty wet when i cut them.

ALL: taking care of a few extra TO DO's so probably will start cutting with my Fein tomorrow. anybody else cut 3/4 or 1.5 inch rubber and have a method they use?

thanks

Ruger_556 · Oct 23, 2016

Circular saw works good.

Cave Creek Ray · Oct 24, 2016

I made floor mats for my Ranger 900. Cut all the straight parts with a new box cutter blade and a straight edge. Three passes and it opened up great. For the complex stuff, I used a Bosch reciprocating scroll saw with a metal blade in it on low speed. A wood blade might even do a better job but, that is what I had in the saw. Cut it like butter without melting. Everyone who sees my mats wants to know where they can buy a set.

The blank I used was on sale at TS for $20. I used another one in the bed and it fits nearly perfectly. Beats the thin Ranger aftermarket mats that run over $100 and they look a lot better.

drivesitfar · Oct 24, 2016

CAVE: nice tips. any chance you might have some pictures of your floor mats in your Ranger and any of the mat in the bed to post here? i'm thinking of also cutting up some thinner 1/2 inch or 3/8 gym mats i own that have the diamond plate look to them for my floor mats in my Honda Pilot.

Cave Creek Ray · Oct 24, 2016

Here you go... I made a cardboard template that worked for both sides.

Driver side

You caught my bed full. The mat came the perfect size for the bed. I didn't even have to cut it.

Passenger side. These are 1/2 thick and weigh over ten lbs each. They don't move.

drivesitfar · Oct 25, 2016

Cave: did you put your rubber mats inside your Ranger over carpet or did you take carpet out to install them? or maybe there wasn't any carpet in the first place? they look nice and thanks for the idea.

ALL: i spent a good portion of yesterday just cleaning up my wife's side of the garage so hopefully today i'll cut some rubber and give a report.

cabranch47 · Oct 25, 2016

They make a knife blade for saber (jig) saws. I should think that it would work well for this application.

Cave Creek Ray · Oct 25, 2016

drivesitfar,

The floor was just hard plastic. These are so heavy they will lay nicely on carpet. But, they won't handle curvy-wombly-jombly floors. You'll have to cut them to fit the flattest part of the floor. The way most cars floors are stamped today, you may not have good luck.

cabranch,

If your blade and the base of your saw are aligned, you might have good luck. Let us know how it works. The good thing about a saw-toothed blade is it will still follow a straight edge even though the blade is off a little. If you free hand it, I am curious how tight it will cut corners.

Ray

drivesitfar · Oct 25, 2016

Welder: thanks for recommending the dremel. i didn't use mine yet, but it did get me to think about the Fein i own.

Shift: thanks for the support and convincing me to use my Fein.

ALL: i found this blade that looks more like a scraper in my box of blades for my Fein and i have to say it works AWESOME. it takes a few passes on the 1.5 inch rubber mat even on the pieces where there is about 3/8 inch missing. if i tried to go to fast i'd BURN RUBBER, but if i took it smoother there wasn't any burning rubber and a good clean cut.

i made a practice cut with the Ryobi 18v vibrating tool and it cut but not as neatly and left a lot of debris.

cutting with the Fein will take some practice to get the cut nice and perpendicular, but on the thicker rubber i think the utility knife would have have issues getting it all the way through without turning it over. on the 3/4 inch rubber mats i usually made 2 and sometimes 3 passes with the utility knife and and it was done, but a lot more work with the utility knife than my Fein so i'll keep practicing on getting the cuts nicer.

also on a narrow 8 inch wide cut i clamped the square to the rubber piece and made a couple quick small passes to create a groove and then removed it. for the longer cuts i'll probably clamp down my T square or a piece of steel.

thanks all for the support and ideas. i'll keep posting my progress and let you know how i like standing on 3/4 inch horse mats with another 1.5 inch rubber mat on top of them.

drivesitfar · Oct 25, 2016

more pics:

drivesitfar · Oct 26, 2016

ALL: i finished all the cutting of the 1.5 inch rubber pieces to get the floor done in my 10x15 garage at home. here's the pictures. The Fien works great and i'm not even sure i was using the correct blade or if there is one better for the job cause the blade i used seemed more like a scraper and it wasn't sharp.

that said it cut pretty good and even trimmed a small piece off my aluminum T square.

i have to cut maybe 25 3/4 inch thick horse mats over at my shop i lease so i'll post up pictures of that when i get to that. those mats are sitting in the rain outside currently so maybe we'll also find out if the water and rubber comments hold water so to speak.

i'll also check Fein's side and see if they have a razor blade attachment and maybe what the blade i used is called and normally used for.

So here's how I've cut 3/4 inch thick rubber mats in the past and the last couple days my results cutting my 1.5 inch thick rubber mats:
1) razor blade new one in a utility knife works great, but after cutting a few mats my hands, wrists and arm get sore (no mess)
2) skill saw really burns the rubber and i might need a thinner blade. also had issues cutting a straight line (makes a mess)
3) jig saw with a metal blade is slow going so wouldn't use this method for long cuts. also has a lot of rubber debris from the cut (makes a mess but less than skill saw)
4) Ryobi 18v vibration tool with blade with small teeth works ok but not as good as my Fein (makes a mess)
5) Fein with straight blade worked great, but cutting straight through will take some effort on the 1.5 inch thick rubber and hopefully cutting 3/4 inch rubber will be easier. (no mess)

Shiftless · Oct 26, 2016

Drives:
Glad my suggestion of the straight scraper blade on the Fein Multimaster worked so well for you. As I said before, I have never cut horse mats, but that blade has easily cut through decades old window putty.
I used to own 2 of those tools. Years ago a second generation hardwood floor man was here in our 65 year old hiuse sanding and laying in a few new boards. I saw him trying to make a tricky plunge cut and handed him my Multimaster with the plunge cut saw blade. He was amazed! I gave him my second older machine in exchange for some extra labor with no charge. A win-win situation!

drivesitfar · Oct 26, 2016

Shift: Fein is a very handy tool indeed. at times i forget i own one and again thanks for the reminder. i think i bought mine used off of Craigslist with a few blades maybe 5 years or so ago. i've picked up a few boxes of blades off Craigslist for a lot less than new ones would cost and i really need to go check out and see what blades are actually available for it now that the prices for new ones are not so high. when it's the right tool for the job it's the right tool.

ALL: i bet the Fein tool will be easy using it on 3/4 inch rubber mats cause when i did a couple practice cuts on the 1/2 inch piece i had laying around it was like cutting butter. it also might work even better if they make a razor blade for it and i'll see if they do and buy one to use on the next batch of 3/4 mats i'm doing soon.

when i mentioned i'll need to work on getting the cut better on the 1.5 inch rubber mats the blade is hard to push down and keep straight downward on long cuts. once the top cut is made using one of my straight edges if i can get it straight down i could make a pretty nice looking floor and make the seams tight. i've done this with a utility knife on the 1/2 and 3/4 inch thick mats hence me not having much (or any) issues with movement or dirt in the seams.

if any of you are or have laid rubber mats in your shops, barns or garages please post up pictures and let us know the method you used.

thanks

mtwaterguy · Oct 26, 2016

Hey drives. If you look for an upholstery foam cutting saw, it will work for this project. If you don't need it right away, I can bring mine the next trip to PDX, Mike.

gtabasso · Oct 26, 2016

Uh, I do use them -- in my horse stall. I have a horse.

drivesitfar · Oct 26, 2016

thanks MTN: can you post up a few pictures of the upholstery saw or a link so we can all see it. i hope you and your bride's and the rest of the family's health is as good as ever. we probably should meet up again so email me or PM me with your email and let's see what we can swap or let me know what you need?

GTA: so now we know you use HORSE MATS for of all things HORSES to walk on. OMG that is almost unheard of isn't it? ok i'm a joking a bit cause this isn't whether you use them or what you use them for it's more for how to CUT THEM. what method do you use to cut them or do you just overlap or leave gaps?

mtwaterguy · Oct 29, 2016

Here's mine.

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=593395&d=1477764294

drivesitfar · Oct 30, 2016

Mtn: i'd like to give yours a try if we can meet up next time you are over here visiting your daughter so give me a heads up and maybe we can make it happen. looks like an interesting tool and i've got a lot of 3/4 rubber horse mats to cut over at my shop some day in the near future. also it seems i'm always needing to cut one or more to put under a machine or fill in some floor space when i move or change some shelving.

thanks

Rubber horse mats 4x6x3/4. HOW TO CUT THEM?? anybody else use them??

Well-known member

Attachments

Well-known member

Super Moderator

Well-known member

Attachments

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Attachments

Active member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Attachments

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Attachments

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Attachments

Well-known member

Attachments

Well-known member

Attachments

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Attachments

Well-known member