Many home tiling projects, especially wall tile projects, will require you to cut a hole in the middle of a tile. The size and shape of that hole will vary based on what you are trying to fit it around (switch plate or outlet, shower valve, etc.), and the larger your tiles, the more likely these obstacles are to wind up being right smack-dab in the middle of a tile.
Cutting a rectangular notch into the side of a tile is easily done with any tile saw, but when the hole has to be in the middle, it can be more difficult. This is when you need to know how to make a plunge cut with a tile saw.
Contents
How to make a plunge cut on a tile saw with a moveable blade
If your model of tile saw has a moving cutting head, and you need to make a plunge cut, you’re in luck. While there are creative workarounds for just about any type of saw, a tile saw or masonry saw with a moveable cutting head will make an easy task of this tricky cut. Since the blade can be moved around, you can sometimes raise the cutting head with the saw turned off, slide your tile underneath, and then lower the blade into the tile after turning it on.
With the flexibility offered by this type of wet saw, the most complicated part of making a plunge cut is carefully measuring and marking the tile. Marking with a wax pencil or crayon is usually a good choice when cutting tile with a wet saw because the mark won’t just wash away once the water starts flowing over the blade. Also, depending on the width of your tile, you may have to flip it over and repeat the cut on the back side because the blade will not have gone all the way through on the extreme ends of the cut (unless you overshoot your marked line).
How to make a plunge cut on a tile saw with a fixed blade
This is where things start to get tricky: making a plunge cut on a tile saw where the blade is fixed in place. These types of machines aren’t designed to make a cut in the middle of a piece of tile, so to make it work requires some creativity, patience, and some extra materials in case you need some trial and error (which is likely to be the case).
As in the previous case, you will need to carefully measure and mark your tile where you need to cut. The strategy here is not to lay the tile down flat on the sliding table, but rather tilt it upright so that the blade makes its first contact on your desired line.
It may take some practice to get the hang of this. If this makeshift plunge cut just isn’t working out for you, you can improvise in other ways that do not involve your tile saw at all. For example, you can use a special hole saw drill bit if the hole is on the smaller side, or you can try it with a handheld tile saw or a tile blade on an angle grinder.
Loading...