Cutting ceramic tile

Seems like there’s been a lot of discussion around engraving ceramic tiles, but I’m not clear on whether it can be cut. Is there a way to cut through a ceramic tile to make custom shapes? Before experimenting, I figured I’d ask.

I’m a big fan of seeing experiments here. My guess is that it’s going to take a lot of passes and probably not close to the speed of other tools.

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Might be cheaper, and possibly quicker, to contact your nearest potter to make the shapes !

John :upside_down_face:

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Not really. You could engrave/score a custom shape and then use a combination of wet saw and nibbler tool to make a custom shape. Presumably this would work. It’s how my sister manipulated glass tiles for mosaics. A good nibbler isn’t cheap - I bought her one for Christmas several years ago.

Note: the wet saw and nibbler part, not the laser. My sister does not have a laser and she’s into weaving. I haven’t seen her weaving, but her mosaics were amazing.

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Maybe. You’d need to experiment though - I haven’t seen a post by anyone who has done it. Based on the depth of engraves, I’d expect it to take between 30-50 passes and altering the focal point a few times in the pass process.

I’d second the scoring/nibbling approach. You might wear out your tube trying to cut through it, and I imagine the dust thrown up would make cleaning afterwards a real chore.

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For cutting thick pieces like glass and ceramic tile, you can use a ring saw. I have the Taurus 3 and it is awesome for glass. :grin:

If you have beaucoup bucks, you could get your own personal waterjet cutter.

Wet tile saws also work well, but for straight cuts.

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Whoa!

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We had some discussions on the wazer a few years back. It’s a neat tool, but the volume of cutting media you need puts it out of most folks scope. A 55lb bag of garnet media won’t last long, and they don’t recommend to reuse it…

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Got my attention, but not going down that road yet. :rofl: