1st Cuts With Rubi Ts-40 Plus - Tile Advice

[trogre]

Hi All. I had my 1st practice cuts with the new (second hand) cutter 2day. Although not tiling bathroom for a while I needed to get to know how the cutter works. I purchased a box of tiles 330 x 250 ceramic from wickes fully expecting to use whole box before I got it right, also some new 6mm scoring wheels from Topps.

My 1st 2 cuts went as below in picture! For these 1st 2 cuts I did not hold the tile steady when bringing the breaker bar down. From then on for a few more tiles I just steadied the tile when bring bar down and they went ok, then it went back cutting & breaking like the 1st tiles.

Cutting smaller bits of tiles there was not problem. When I looked on YouTube hardly anyone steadies the tile when breaking so I thought that is not the answer. So....

The cutter was more or less at belly level when cutting.
I was standing a bit to one side.
Not convinced these two things can cause the problem. I can only think but does not make sense that near the end of score I eased up a bit, then again it cut cleanly, just the broken bit.

You can see the breaker bar handle is bent near the bottom so who ever had it last must have put a lot of pressure on the bar.
Even so when you pull the bar down the breaker foot comes in contact with tile on both sides as I though perhaps one foot was higher than the other side but all ok.

Obviously I would off though “user error” but not sure why and how to correct it. I did say in previous post I had got a TS-50- Plus but made mistake as it is a 40 plus.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you

 

[Unused Account 1]

Its a plus ,ts40 plus more powerful breaking power ,when using basic ceramic tiles be very gentle on breaking arm,good for thicker formats ,good luck

 

[mma]

Move the tile to the left slightly after it has been scored, use cardboard under the breaker, and if all else fails, break with hands!!

 

[bcd-87]

That breaking arm looks bent at the end

 

[Italy]

Move the tile to the left slightly after it has been scored, use cardboard under the breaker, and if all else fails, break with hands!!

could not find the word (break with hands).......
put gloves!!!!
Now you understand why I switched to sigma lol

 

[jobdone]

Some tile's just need a sharp snap other just a gentle press some soft ceramics need gently breaking both ends

 

[p4ulo]

It looks like you are pressing too hard....soft tiles like that will go really easy, too much pressure and they break as you show....Good luck. Keep practising.

 

[trogre]

Thanks for all your tips. The breaker bar is bent so a lot of pressure must of been used by last owner.I thought I would try the tool in every mans toolbox 1st and if it did not work buy a new breaker bar.....Lump Hammer
I managed to straighten ok.
Not tried moving tile slightly to left and cardboard under breaker but will try that Monday.
I thought maybe the breaker itself was bent so I put a bit of tile under breaker then a *** paper under each side and both sides touch tile at same time.
As mentioned it only happens when cutting whole tile in half as you can see from picture. After that cutting 1/2 a tile into 1/4 or cutting any other bit no matter what size worked ok.
Tried the gentle approach like protiler 68 & p4ulo suggested rather than the "snap" action I have seen on YouTube.
It seems to work perfectly. Once breaker is on tile I just pull down bar gently and the 1st say 1/3rd of tile breaks cleanly with the rest of tile cracked along the scoring line,another gentle pull and the tile breaks cleanly all the length. I will have to try just gently applying pressure on breaker in just one go rather than the 2 above.

From experience have you found any difference in quality of these basic 330 x 250 ceramic white tiles?
I got my test box from wickes only because they were the cheapest but topps & tileflair are much much more expensive for the same tile. I have used wickes white tiles before but the smaller 250 x 200 and cut them laboriously with wet cutter but they seemed ok to me.
Thank you

P.S. mma,what would moving tile to left after tile has been scored and cardboard under breaker do?

 

[EdinTiler]

Just buy a new breaker from TradeTiler. Cheap as chips
EdinTiler

 

[trogre]

Very interesting Edin Tiler. I went onto Trade Tiler web site and a complete new breaker is around £45. I then saw they sell the Replacement fork part for Plus breaker for about £20.
It was not the price difference that caught my eye but what they said:-

"On thick tough porcelain it's possible to accidentally deform the top fork slightly buy pulling the breaking handle extremely hard. The geometry of the breaker is effected causing problems snapping even standard ceramics afterwards"

Considering my breaker bar is or was bent where it came out of the hole in the breaker it is obvious the bar has had extreme force put on it.I do not think I need a whole new breaker assembly but for the price of a new fork and even a new bar well worth the small price.
I redid the *** paper test and on the left breaker,the side the tile breaks. What I found was the *** paper was tight in between breaker fork & tile at the front but slightly moving at the back of breaker. Just that little bit of distortion could be my problem.

 

[mma]

I've had the same problem with thin ceramics and sometimes you have to mess about to see what works best. I've even resorted to scoring with the tile cutter and using a hand snapper to break the tiles. Moving the tile to the left has worked before and must just ease the pressure slightly.

 

[Time's Ran Out]

Some soft glazes/tiles may need listening too!
With some pressure you will hear the snap - then turn it around and snap from the other end.

 

[GAZ5518]

Try scoring and moving tile away from stop end so that the breaking point is not so far into the tile.. Also with a thinner ceramic go gently gently... Keep practising.. Good luck.

 

[Matt Bott]

Usually I find if the tile breaks like the picture above you have put more pressure than is required it will have snapped just before it broke, touch feel and sound is important some tiles you can apply pressure to the breaker hold it and you can literally here the tile cracking all the way down the score. This is the same when removing a well bedded floor tile I chip the corner out get a chisel under hit it in then listern when you hear a peeling sound wait until it stops and then hit further wait again and the whole tile can pop in one if you force to quickly whole tile breaks same concept here.

One bit of advice if your doing a long cut apply pressure on breaker till you get the cut start to snap then with other hand lean on the edge of the tile up near the breaker this will apply pressure to the tile without forcing the breaker through the face of the tile hope this helps, also if your still struggling hold both sides of the tile at the top and bang the back of the score on a hard object it will snap clean down the score.

 

[Flintstone]

Good old rubi!!
Pull lighter on the breaker bar, when you here the initial breaking noise, remove tile and snap with hands.