Re: [BlindHandyMan] New Tool Review, Tile Cutting Saw
Ray, I agree with this article, A power tile cutter is worth its weight in gold. It not only save time, but also save tile breakage. 3 years ago my wife and I started out with a manual tile cutter, laying down more than 1100 square feet of the stuff. It didn't take me long to rent a tile table saw for $12.50 a day. What we did, was to lay all the full tile, rent the saw for a day and cut and filled in the needed areas. Which took us just a short time to finish that task and had the saw back at the rental place before 5 PM that day. RJ - Original Message - From: Boyce, Ray [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: blindhandyman@yahoogroups.com Sent: Tuesday, August 15, 2006 11:20 PM Subject: [BlindHandyMan] New Tool Review, Tile Cutting Saw Hi GMC LSTSAW Laser Tile Cutting Saw Review So you've made more than a hundred woodworking projects, spent endless hours in the workshop, and now its time to renovate the bathroom, kitchen or laundry area and your significant other wants you to do it! Tiling may not be your specialty, but if you need to cut tiles to fit an edge or to work around an immovable object, a powered tile cutter will make life a little easier! Today we are taking a look at the GMC Tile Cutter, which is another tool from the GMC range fitted out with their Redeye laser feature. Let's take a closer look... Out of the Box The GMC LSTSAW Laser Tile Cutting saw ships mostly assembled. All you really need to do is attach the laser mount arm to the saw, add the fence, and install the supplied batteries into the laser's battery compartment. Certainly one of the more simpler and quicker out-of-the-box setups we have encountered lately I must say! There is the normal high-quality, color-printed manual supplied with the tile saw, as with most GMC products now, as well as standard warranty card and registration information. Everything was in tip-top condition once assembled - no dints or dings to be seen. Specifications Below are the listed specifications as per the manual for this tool: Power: 650W Speed: 2950 RPM Blade Size: 180mm Diamond Blade Bore Size: 15.88mm (5/8) Bevel Capacity: 0 to 45 degrees Maximum Cutting Depth at 90 deg: 35mm Maximum Cutting Depth at 45 deg: 21mm Table Size: 420mm x 360mm Laser Class: 2 Laser Output: 1mW Batteries: 2 x AAA Features Function The first feature you may notice once you have this tool out of the box and are ready to move it to its place of use is the integrated tool handle. Located on the left side of the tool (when standing in front of it) the flip up handle allows you to carry the tool around very easily and conveniently. The weight of the tool seems pretty well centered under the handle, so there is little strain when lugging the tool around. The motor offers 650W output. For tile cutting this is plenty. Most tiles have a similar thickness and few ceramic tiles measure more than a quarter or third of an inch thick (except from some specialty tiles) so 650W of power is more than enough to complete regular tile cutting tasks with ease. I haven't been able to bog the saw down yet during a regular tile cut. The motor is also of the induction type. It is very quiet when switched on and no ear protection will be needed. Once you start cutting a tile however, the noise level jumps up a little. This is not the saw itself becoming noisier, but simply the noise the tile makes as it is being sliced by the diamond blade. The saw uses a standard, non-segmented 180mm diamond edged cutting blade. The bore size is listed at 15.88mm, which is 5/8. Finding replacement blades shouldn't be terribly difficult if you search a big box hardware store, or from tile retailers that also sell cutting gear (many do). A quality tile cutting blade will last for quite a long time if used only to cut common tile materials. A plastic blade guard protects the user from accidentally striking a spinning blade causing injury. Personally, I found the blade guard was a little flimsy, but when set properly, it performs the task it is designed to do and doesn't really move when the saw is turned on and cutting is in progress, so who I am to criticize! Its light weight probably contributes to the saw's easy portability, so my back certainly is thankful for that. The next main feature is the table itself. It can tilt to the right to 45 degrees if you have a need to make a beveled tile cut. As most tile cuts will likely be made at the square 90 degree setting, I didn't really find much use for the tilting table function but at least the function is there if and when you do need it. A small knob on the front of the unit releases the table allowing you to tilt it to 45 degrees. The small etched scale and arrow marking system approximates the bevel angle. It's crude but more than sufficient for tiling cuts, where accuracy to less than a single degree is rarely required, if at all. The scale on the table itself
[BlindHandyMan] New Tool Review, Tile Cutting Saw
Hi GMC LSTSAW Laser Tile Cutting Saw Review So you've made more than a hundred woodworking projects, spent endless hours in the workshop, and now its time to renovate the bathroom, kitchen or laundry area and your significant other wants you to do it! Tiling may not be your specialty, but if you need to cut tiles to fit an edge or to work around an immovable object, a powered tile cutter will make life a little easier! Today we are taking a look at the GMC Tile Cutter, which is another tool from the GMC range fitted out with their Redeye laser feature. Let's take a closer look... Out of the Box The GMC LSTSAW Laser Tile Cutting saw ships mostly assembled. All you really need to do is attach the laser mount arm to the saw, add the fence, and install the supplied batteries into the laser's battery compartment. Certainly one of the more simpler and quicker out-of-the-box setups we have encountered lately I must say! There is the normal high-quality, color-printed manual supplied with the tile saw, as with most GMC products now, as well as standard warranty card and registration information. Everything was in tip-top condition once assembled - no dints or dings to be seen. Specifications Below are the listed specifications as per the manual for this tool: Power: 650W Speed: 2950 RPM Blade Size: 180mm Diamond Blade Bore Size: 15.88mm (5/8) Bevel Capacity: 0 to 45 degrees Maximum Cutting Depth at 90 deg: 35mm Maximum Cutting Depth at 45 deg: 21mm Table Size: 420mm x 360mm Laser Class: 2 Laser Output: 1mW Batteries: 2 x AAA Features Function The first feature you may notice once you have this tool out of the box and are ready to move it to its place of use is the integrated tool handle. Located on the left side of the tool (when standing in front of it) the flip up handle allows you to carry the tool around very easily and conveniently. The weight of the tool seems pretty well centered under the handle, so there is little strain when lugging the tool around. The motor offers 650W output. For tile cutting this is plenty. Most tiles have a similar thickness and few ceramic tiles measure more than a quarter or third of an inch thick (except from some specialty tiles) so 650W of power is more than enough to complete regular tile cutting tasks with ease. I haven't been able to bog the saw down yet during a regular tile cut. The motor is also of the induction type. It is very quiet when switched on and no ear protection will be needed. Once you start cutting a tile however, the noise level jumps up a little. This is not the saw itself becoming noisier, but simply the noise the tile makes as it is being sliced by the diamond blade. The saw uses a standard, non-segmented 180mm diamond edged cutting blade. The bore size is listed at 15.88mm, which is 5/8. Finding replacement blades shouldn't be terribly difficult if you search a big box hardware store, or from tile retailers that also sell cutting gear (many do). A quality tile cutting blade will last for quite a long time if used only to cut common tile materials. A plastic blade guard protects the user from accidentally striking a spinning blade causing injury. Personally, I found the blade guard was a little flimsy, but when set properly, it performs the task it is designed to do and doesn't really move when the saw is turned on and cutting is in progress, so who I am to criticize! Its light weight probably contributes to the saw's easy portability, so my back certainly is thankful for that. The next main feature is the table itself. It can tilt to the right to 45 degrees if you have a need to make a beveled tile cut. As most tile cuts will likely be made at the square 90 degree setting, I didn't really find much use for the tilting table function but at least the function is there if and when you do need it. A small knob on the front of the unit releases the table allowing you to tilt it to 45 degrees. The small etched scale and arrow marking system approximates the bevel angle. It's crude but more than sufficient for tiling cuts, where accuracy to less than a single degree is rarely required, if at all. The scale on the table itself provides a method by which a distance from the blade can be calculated to set the fence. It measures a little over 8 inches left of the blade, and 4 inches right of the blade, with a central 0 setting in line with the blade's projected kerf cut line. The scale is found front and back on the table as the fence is a dual clamp system and not self aligning, so to get a square cut, you need to set the fence at the same measurement front and back. The fence itself is of aluminum box construction. It is fairly rigid when locked down. You can flex it a little, but only with excessive pressure you wouldn't normally be applying pushing a tile against it, so it is really a moot point. Under normal use, there is no visible flex and tile cuts remain parallel front to back. As mentioned above, the fence uses a basic front/back clamping
