How to carefully cut curly strobes in porcelain stoneware?
I want to insert a mosaic pattern into the finished porcelain stoneware floor. How can you cut curly strobes in porcelain stoneware, but not dust?
The idea to insert a mosaic pattern into a finished porcelain tile floor is not very successful for several reasons:
- Firstly, before laying any tile, especially curly, it is necessary to carefully prepare the surface: it must be perfectly even and dry.
- Secondly, mosaic panels on the floor are usually placed in plain sight and the laying of the coating begins precisely with the formation of the pattern, having previously determined its center and setting up the beacons. The remaining solid tiles combine with the finished mosaic panel.
In ceramic granite laid on glue, it is unlikely that it will be possible to carefully cut the figured holes, and then on small curved areas it is ideal to prepare the surface for gluing new fragments. Most likely you will have to remove the plates at the place of the planned installation of the drawing, prepare the surface, and then insert the previously prepared mosaic elements.
The following tools can be used for cutting porcelain stoneware:
- Hole saw “Bulgarian” with a diamond nozzle;
- manual or electric tile cutter;
- jigsaw with a tungsten saw;
- waterjet cutting.
The hole saw is attached to a manual electric drill on a drill with a carbide tip with a diameter of 6 mm. To prevent overheating, both the saw and the ceramic tile are moistened with water during operation. The method is very time-consuming, and an uneven cut must be manually processed with a file or on an emery machine.
The design of the electric tile cutter provides a tray with water for cooling the diamond disk and wetting the tiles. Dust formation and overheating of the tool and material during operation are excluded, but skill and experience are required to make complex shaped holes in this way.
A jigsaw with a tungsten saw is a convenient and compact tool for curly cutting not only porcelain stoneware, but also natural stone, metal and other hard materials. If you still want to cut the figured holes in the laid porcelain tile, you can try to do it with an electric jigsaw.
Finally, the most modern and perfect way of figured cutting of ceramics, glass, metal, etc. - is waterjet cutting. On a machine with a programmed control, curvilinear forms of any complexity create a thin stream of water or an aqueous suspension of abrasive, supplied under high pressure, according to the sketch. The result is high image quality and no waste. At home, the method is not yet available, but specialized firms provide such a service.
