Tools, Sharpening and Power Machinery - Tile Wet Saws

I am working on a bathroom remodel that involves cutting a fair amount of 16x16" Slate and Travertine tiles down into 8X8" tiles. (most stone is typically not available in 8x8") Additionally the floor will be set on a diaginal. Once this project is done, I plan to do the kitchen & laundry area. the patio, and then the other bathroom. Because of the number of cuts I feel like the rental fee for a saw (at $50-60 a day) would go a long way toward the purchase of one -- especially at my slow meticulous pace. I hate using cheesy inexpensive inaccurate tools, but I also am not a professional an do not require the tool to hold up heavy daily use.

I'm having a hard time determining how much saw to buy. The MK-145, for example, is very inexpensive ($100) It is set up like a table saw with a water pan underneath. It will rip an "unlimited" size tile, but I have no concept of how accurate an straight the cuts will be, since my tile size is nearly the size of the table.

The QEP 60007 has a 7" blade and will cut up to a 16" tile and sells for about $225.00 Would this be a "happy median" tool that would suit my needs?

Other saws that will rip a 16" tile jump into the $500 and up range. The MK-100 has a 10" blade and are selling for around $600. It looks like a quality professional grade tool, but is this more tool than I really need?


Any advice is appreciated

Hey Dino, Your profile does not say what area you are from, but I thought I would give you a suggestion to think about. I was in a Harbor Frieght store the other day (in Baton Rouge, La.) and I saw a tile cutting saw, around $40 to $60 dallors, complete with the water pan and all. I remember showing it to my dad, and commenting that it didn't cost too much more than what I rented one far when we put up tile in my bathroom. I did buy a power tool, and they asked if I wanted to pay an extra $5 or $6 dallors for a 2 year, no questions asked warranty to return it. My suggestion is, if your buying a tool that you may only use once, or for one job in perticular, heavily in a certain time period, even if it is not top of the line, buy that little cheap warranty. Hey if you burn it up you can bring it back and get another one, or your money back. If it handles the job, and still works, it can be used again, and you don't have that much invested in it. If it stays in the way collecting dust, maybe you could sell it to a friend.

No matter which saw you buy, the trick to their performance is getting the water on the blade, at the point of the cut, and don't try to force it too fast! Hope this helps.

Dino:
I just went thru what you are looking at doing. I couldn't justify a good saw, so I ended up buying a cheap little saw from Home Depot (Plas Plugs or something like that, with the water pan below) for about $100 and crossed my fingers. It worked great! The thing I really needed was a tilting bed, as I had to cut some bevels, and this saw had that. The down side was that was somewhat messy as far as water spray from the blade, not something you want to use indoors. Accuracy was not the best; spend some time setting the fence before you start cutting. I made about 125 to 150 cuts with no problems.

Bruce

Dino ..... I bought a MK-170 at Home Depot a couple of years ago. It was the least expensive in the MK line. I'm pretty sure it cost under $200. I've done one large (full kitchen/bathroom) project and a couple of small jobs. It works very well. Handles 12" tiles no problem. Is powerful and accurate. It is equipped with a water tray. I even cut a couple of full size brick pavers... although I dulled an already dull blade. It's small enough to store or carry around in the trunk of your car.

Just recently bought and used a $98 Lowes tile saw. Not sure of the brand, I am still at work and saw is at home. It worked like a charm. It came with a flimsy fence, but I didn't even try it. Just mark the face of your tiles with a #2 pencil and hand guide your tile through the saw; cuts like butter. (Don't forget safety goggles). You'll definately want to do this outside. I ended up making myself an apron out of large trash bags. For my next tiling project I plan to find some type of large pan to set the saw in, as areas of my deck are now the color of the red clay substrate.

For what its worth: I could have rented a saw locally for $45 a day. My project was over a three day time span. Saw paid for!

Robert Grogan
http://www. groganfive.com
http://www.upstatelinks.com

Thanks for the advise guys. I'm pretty sure that the $100 saw from Lowes / Home Depot is suitably matched for the size of my project (and budget!) I'm just not sure how easily I will be able to work with 16" tiles on a saw that only has a 16 table. I guess I could set up some kind of a "table extension table" to run the tile out on. Any thoughts?:cool: