Getting the Best Performance While Cutting Porcelain Tile
No matter what task you take up, you no doubt want the task to be executed smoothly and have good performance. For example, if you are installing tile, you would probably consider leveling the tile important to performing the task. It is no different when the task is cutting porcelain (tile, countertops, or other forms of the material). There are multiple aspects to working with porcelain that require cutting the material. Many professionals focus on getting the best performance while cutting porcelain tile. In this article, we are going to examine what can help achieve good performance from porcelain diamond blades. Knowing how to do it has the potential for helping you make good blade choices.
What Constitutes the Best Performance?
What would you say makes a cutting experience good? Well, many would say that it involves a variety of things. Anything that makes cutting porcelain more challenging would be considered, not a performance enhancer, but a performance reducer. Here are some factors that contribute to a highly performant blade:
- Least amount of chips
- Smooth cutting
- Speed of the cut
- Length of blade life
- Blade stability during the cut
All of the above performance factors contribute to high performance. Additionally, there are various ways that performance is affected. The characteristics of the material play a role in those factors. Let's see how porcelain's traits affect blade performance.
Porcelain Traits Affect the Task
The properties of a material have a bearing on the performance of a task. Porcelain is no different in this respect. It has properties that have the potential of affecting the blade's life, clean cuts, and the speed of the cut.
Porcelain is a very hard material. But, it is also brittle. These two traits mean that the material is susceptible to being chipped. Granted, the amount of shock required to cause a chip is somewhat high. Yet, when cutting porcelain, there is a lot of power involved. The question then is, "what blade features contribute to high performance cutting?"
Blade Features Related to Performance
Blades are designed with a variety of features. Each blade will have a collection of traits that produce the performance factors mentioned earlier. Let's look at some of those now.
Blade Core Strength Affects Stability
The thickness and strength of a blade's core plays a role in the blade's stability. The thicker the blade, the less it wobbles. This is a key to getting a cut that is smooth. Wobbling or vibration of the blade during the cut impacts the way the blade performs. After all, you want a blade that cuts straight and smooth. So, when choosing a porcelain blade, choose one that has a strong core.
Thin Blades Cut Smooth
When talking about a smooth cut on porcelain, a blade with a thin edge, the part having diamond segments, is big contributor. The thinner the edge, the less resistance from the blade. This allows the blade to remove less material in order to divide one piece of porcelain into two. Additionally, the kerf is thin as well. To put it simply, thin kerf blades, remove less of the material. Besides producing clean cuts, the low resistance of a thin edge blade also makes for fast cutting.
Clean Cutting Continuous Rim Blades
Clean cuts are also achieved using continuous rim tile blades. These blade types are effective for clean cuts. The edge of the blade has no gaps. Therefore, the blade is perpetually in contact with the material it is cutting and this makes the cut very clean. Continuous rim blades are extremely effective for cutting all sorts of brittle, hard materials.
X-teeth Mesh Blades Cut Fast
X Teeth blades are blades that feature an edge with an X-shaped mesh pattern on them. These blades cut fast. They remove a significant amount of material and this speeds up the cut. Combine that feature with a thin edge mentioned earlier and the blade is fast and clean.
Increasing the Life of the Blade
Increasing the life of the blade involves getting results from the blade without stressing the blade. In other words, the more efficiently the blade cuts, the longer life you will get out of it. Combining the features mentioned in this article result in effective, efficiently cutting blades. We have a number of diamond blades for cutting hard materials, including porcelain and even sintered stone such as DEKTON.
