Cutting into tile countertop with TS or Carvex

[ear3]

Helping my parents install a new stove in their kitchen, and it turns out the tile countertop has to be cut into to fit the stove.  It's 1/4" tile over plywood, and I thought I could use guide rail to make an absolutely clean cut (straight cut into material without beveling or plunging).  Question: has anyone used Carvex or TS for this purpose, and if so, what blades?  Thanks.

 

[Michael Kellough]

I don't think you can do this in one pass.

You need a silicon carbide abrasive blade or a dry cut diamond blade to cut the tile (and it needs to have a 20mm arbor hole), then you need a wood cutting blade for the counter. Any blade will be ruined by one or the other material if you attempt to cut all in one pass.

 

[ear3]

It doesnt look like festool makes a diamond saw blade for TS

 

[wow]

It doesnt look like festool makes a diamond saw blade for TS

No they don't (at least NINA) but Tom Bellemare (tool-home.com) stocks one that he brings in from Italy. Let me see if I can find a link for you...

Edit: Found the relevant thread here:

http://festoolownersgroup.com/festool-tools-accessories/fiber-cement-blade-for-festool-ts-75/msg325534/#msg325534

I don't see the product on his website, but he may have just run out of them again. He had them for both the TS55 and the TS75.

Contact him and ask about it.

 

[tbellemare]

I have some for the TS 55 and one for the TS 75 but I'm not sure how they would react to ceramic tile. They are actually designed to cut fiber cement board and are designed differently than any tile blade I've seen.

Tile blades tend to have many, more abrasive type teeth/surfaces and thinner kerfs. These have four, fairly aggressive (in comparison) teeth.

Festool sells a jigsaw blade that might just be the trick... The 486562 is their offering for cutting tile and the like.

I suspect that with a steady hand on the saw, that blade would make short work of it. If a really straight cut is desired, a Guide Stop can help.

Tom

 

[ear3]

Thanks Tom.  I think the Carvex is probably the way to go then, outfitted with the guide rail, as I could get closer to the back wall than with the TS.  This has to happen within a week, so I don't know if I could get a 30mm arbor hole drilled in time anyway.  My only concern is ruining the tile blade with the plywood backing.  I suppose since it's only two cuts, I might be able to get enough of the way through.

 

[tbellemare]

I don't think it'll hurt that blade to cut plywood. It will likely do some burning as it seems to be more of an eroding type blade than a cutting one.

Tom

 

[Gjarman12]

[member=37411]Edward A Reno III[/member] how did this job end up? Has anyone else done a small bathroom of tile with the carvex and or ts55? I'm about to do a small bathroom and don't want to use my wet tile saw as its in a basement and will be a little messy or too slow to go up and down stairs and the tiles are too long for most dry tile cutters.

 

[ear3]

Completely forgot about this.  Turns out my dad spec-ed the materials incorrectly.  He told me ceramic tile, but when I got up there I realized it what stone.  So I ended up just going angle grinder with a diamond cutting wheel.  Cut took less than two minutes, but the cleanup of all the dust and debris spewed around the kitchen over an hour.

[member=37411]Edward A Reno III[/member] how did this job end up? Has anyone else done a small bathroom of tile with the carvex and or ts55? I'm about to do a small bathroom and don't want to use my wet tile saw as its in a basement and will be a little messy or too slow to go up and down stairs and the tiles are too long for most dry tile cutters.

 

[rizzoa13]

Gjarman- best thing I ever did for my Tile saw was make a tent for it. With some 3/4 pve pipe and a bunch of 3 way knuckles you can encase the saw. Put plastic underneath so it wraps a few feet up the side and then drape plastic over the top , making sure to have the water run into the bottom piece. I use some drywall clamps to hold the plastic in place and I'm good to go cutting wherever.

 

[mkasdin]

I just enlarged a granite countertop to fit in an overmount stainless steel sink I used a small variable speed Bosch angle grinder. Set the speed at 2 out of 5? Had a spray bottle of water to keep the material and blade lubricated. I have a plastic shroud for the grinder that fits on the dust extractor. But with a 4 1/2" blade I couldn't get the depth. So I used it with a regular shroud. It's nice to slow the speedway down for control. But I really don't like open blades near my leg and arm because one slip up and it's cutting through flesh or fingers. I used a piece of wood 1x4 as a straight edge with the diamond blade the blades don't cut into the wood for the most part so you can score the granite and after sufficient depth remove the guides. I have four of the Dewalt 4 1/2 grinding wheel blades for various tasks. It worked well. Getting the radius in the corners was tricky since I turned the blade on the side. Cut through the plywood with a multi tool and a bi- metal- wood blade.  Doing an circle would be tricky though?

 

[Gjarman12]

Thanks. I am apprehensive about grinders too. I like the tent idea, I'll probably just use the tile saw.

 

[Brent Taylor]

I use a grinder with a diamond wheel with stone and tile, plus a vac and water.