Cutting blind holes in ceramic tile

[Steve from Socal]

I have four tiles to cut for the back splash I am installing. The tiles are 12X12 ceramic tiles and one tile requires a square cut inside the perimeter for a two gang box; one a corner notched and, the other two a straight cut along a side. I bought a small tile saw at Home Depot and it lasted about an inch before the crimp on one side failed. This clearly was not designed for long cuts in thick tiles. What are my options and is there anybody in the San Fernando Valley that could cut these for a reasonable price. I don't want to spend a lot of money on tools that will do a few cuts and collect dust for the next ten years!

Steve

 

[mobetta]

go and rent a tile saw.

 

[ultimatesooner]

angle grinder with diamond blade or jig saw with a diamond blade

 

[55 FORDMAN]

here in tenn. lowes will cut tile for .25 cents each hope this helps

 

[6768rogues]

Some tiles will cut with a tungsten carbide bit in a Dremel tool. Other tiles are too hard.

 

[Maxwell]

I set tile all the time use a 4 inch grinder and adiamond wheel Max

 

[Steve from Socal]

Sooner and Max,

Thanks; I got a 4" diamond wheel at Harbor Freight and it worked like a charm.

Steve

 

[Coptool]

For strait cuts from the edge any 4" diamond blade on a grinder works perfect and is pretty cheap. For round or inner cuts the rotozip XB-FT1 works great but is pricy. Here is a video our local Bosch rep made.

http://www.youtube.com/user/coptool?feature=mhum#p/a/u/0/hf9NbmNxLIc

 

[Amitygravel]

Diamond wheels plus an angle grinder are a great invention. You can even do small holes within a tiles perimeter. Just gradually wisk away material to about halfway from the face of the tile , flip it over and do the same thing from the backside. Since the back obviously isn't going to show you can remove a larger diameter of material allowing the wheel to penetrate sooner. That way you don't have a really large bevel on the tile face to grout or worry about an escutcheon not covering the hole.