My saw, like many, has a sliding table, it also has a fence that can be attached/detached to the table. The fence is parallel to the blade. Just like a table saw fence.

My sliding table also has a lip at the back edge of it.

You can go beyond the stated capacity of a saw by setting the tile against the fence, but also have it hang over the lip and off the back edge of the table.

Get the tile properly positioned and stable, and slide the table forward to complete the first half of the cut.

Once done, slide the table back to its starting position. Now slide the tile forward, the blade will go in the kerf that you just cut. Reregister the tile against the fence and the lip on the rear of the table, then slide the table forward to complete the cut.

Or, a little more stable, I have a jig that I sit on my saw's primary sliding table. The jig is a square piece of plywood that is thicker than the lip on the rear of the sliding table is high. On one edge of the jig is a strip of wood that functions as a fence, the strip is parallel to the saw blade.

I set the jig on the sliding table and butt it up against the back lip on the sliding table. I slide the jig left/right so the jig's fence is the proper distance from the blade. I sit my oversized tile on top of my jig, up against the "fence" (the strip of wood) on the jig, and let the tile hang long off the back of the jig (which means the tile is also hanging off the back of the sliding table.

I start the cut by sliding the table forward. When the table has reached the limit of its travel, and while keeping the jig tight on the sliding table, I then slide the tile forward across the surface of the jig. The fence keep the tile on the proper line.

Easy to do, never a problem.

With the jig you will need to be able to adjust (raise) the height of your blade.

My primary saw is the Felker 150. New about $550-$600, you can resell lightly used ones for $400+, especially if you keep the original boxes. There's one on eBay for $250.

You can buy one, then sell it to flyleft when you are done.

Mongo

Left this out.

If that's more saw then you need or more than your budget allows, you can opt for one of the small table saw style tile saws.

With those you just slide the tile along the top, to there is no capacity issue per se. You just need to be able to smoothly slide the tile across the top. There are several models out there, I think Felker's is a FTS50 or "something" 50. It's probably around a $100.

The ones I advise you to avoid are the ones that look like they have an angle grinder clamped overhead the table.

Mongo

Mongo,

Thanks so much for your very thorough reply. This is exactly the information I needed.

The more expensive Felker is tempting, but after this master bath project we'll only have the other two (small) full baths to do, and I think we'll go vintage with those, so I'm not sure our current and future tiling needs warrant the more expensive saw. But it sure looks cool!

Jennifer

If you are just a hobbiest or have a few tile jobs to do, I recommend buying an inexpensive wet saw. When we built our last house, we bought one with a 7" blade at home depot and it was cheap....less than $150. We used it to tile that house, I cut all the flagstone for the fire place, I cut all the rock for the columns in front of my new house and I just tiled the bathroom and laundry using 13" porcelain tile. that thing just keeps right on going!! It has a itty bitty little water basin under it, but I set the saw up on a table and dropped the water pump down into a large barrel of is an MK 170 (I think). Great little saw for the money!!

I bought a little 'table saw' style [no pump, the blade just passes through the basin of water, motor below cutting deck] one from harbor freight, paid around $80, similar ones rent locally for $40/day.

It was fine for my ceramic projects and the granite tile I did on the counters, but it's been a failure on the slightly thicker porcelain 12x18s I'm using at the new house.

A good saw will give you cleaner cuts with less breakage of tile-- its a definite money saver, though how long it takes to pay back the larger investment is unknowable.

If you are buying locally, ask the tile shop if they'll lend you a saw for DIY-- a lot of them will.

And I'd seriously avoid doing the work in small chunks: It's theoretically just fine, but when I've done this is I end up spending a lot of time preparring to shut the job down at the end of a work session-- scrapping up the thinset from the edges while its still wet, [extra tough if you use Ditra], cleaning tools and buckets-- then getting the area ready the next time-- vaccuming up the loose stuff, gently getting up the inevitable hard chunks that will keep the next course from laying true.

Better to do all the prep you can, then try to clear your schedule and get all the tile layed in a couple 8+ hour shifts. Remember that the thinset usually comes in 50 pound bags, and you'll want to lay enough tile each session to use up what you've mixed. Doing my new kitchen this past week, my best day was a '3 bagger' but I wouldn't have gotten that far without a helper to cut for me.

But be warned: laying tile can be physically challenging. You will be pretty achy after the first day. If you're fit, you'll adapt quickly, but it makes finding the motivation to do the next 'small chunk' tough. I personally prefer a foam kneeling pad over the strap on types, and I use a pair of very cheap fingerless leather bike gloves with padded palms to cushion myself from the trowel handle.

My #1 tip for newbies: keep those grout lines clear of excess thinset as you work-- it's much easier to clean it out as you go than after it's hardend. I use my finger to wipe back the line before I drop the tile in, but still have some scraps of cardboard from the tile boxes handy to clean out any thinset that peaks up after the tile is pressed home.

Thanks for all the advice. I really appreciate it. This isn't our first tile job (we laid the kitchen floor in our previous house) but other than that we are inexperienced and I know laying these large format tiles present their own unique challenges.

Oruboris, I'll take what you've said and plan to try to do the job in a couple of days. The only reason I had planned otherwise is that we have 22-month-old twins, and it is hard for me to be away from them in larger chunks of time. But I think the best plan would be to hire a sitter for a couple of days and try to do the bulk of the work in a couple of days.

Good advice, too, about the cheaper saws not working so well for the thicker porcelains. We'll happily pay more for a good saw (especially considering we'll likely sell it right away) if it will mean better, get-it-right-the-first-time cuts. I just want to go into this job with equipment that will help me, not equipment that is passable but that I will be fighting against.

Keep the advice coming!

Jennifer

The only caution with using a small "table saw" unit is that the "wet" comes from the blade spinning through a tray of water underneath the table. There is no pump.

Some saws do the "wet" better than others.

The ones that don't do it well can cause the cutting line to stay dirty, that can result in premature blade wear.

Excess grit at the cutline can also result in the blade and/or the tile heating up. That would be more prevalent with a long cut, as in your 24" rips. Heat can cause thermal shock to the tile and cause the tile to crack and break while it's being cut.

Soft stones like slate? Not a problem. Hard porcelains? Much more of a problem.

ccoomb1 wrote about using an inexpensive aquarium pump to add extra water to the cutting process. It's an excellent idea.

Mongo

Sorry you didn't get the response you needed at JB Forums....we're usually pretty good about that, but anyway...those of us that do it for a living invest pretty Big Bucks in our saws...and Felker and Target are the most common, but are in the 1/K range and higher. Here's a good deal for you though. This saw will do everything you need and more...for about $300. We picked one up three years ago for some large tile...have beat it to death and it's still working. Probably Chinese, but it'll do what you want and you can still sell it to someone for a couple of hundred bucks when you're through.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=95385

Thanks Lazarususa. No worries about not getting responses at the JB forums. It's not really an urget question compared to some of the other stuff being discussed there. I know I'll get the help I need when I *really* need it. I still can't believe how generous everyone is there (and here, too!) in helping all us DIYers.

I just checked c'slist and there is an MK100 10" listed for $350 that just was posted today. I saw from a quick search that most pros don't like them but would it be better than the one from Harbor Freight or roughly equivalent?

Thanks,
Jennifer

(side post: LOL mongo--I just saw that! But my craigslist Felker Tilemaster would be jealous :))

I just saw this on Ebay. This is the exact saw I use on a daily basis. You'll need a plastic tray and cart for it.....but that would only be about $100 or so. I bought mine 18 years ago for over $800.....and it's still going strong!

http://cgi.ebay.com/Felker-Tile-Saw_W0QQitemZ360068060693QQihZ023QQcategoryZ20790QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1638Q2em118Q2el1247

Here is a link that might be useful: http://cgi.ebay.com/Felker-Tile-Saw_W0QQitemZ360068060693QQihZ023QQcategoryZ20790QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1638Q2em118Q2el1247

That's a HELLUVA buy!!

Lazarususa,

I'm itching to buy it but I can't seem to find the replacement parts I'd need. I'd like to verify that I can indeed get them for around $100 before I pull the trigger. Can you or someone point me in the right direction?

And thanks for finding it!
Jennifer

flyleft,

I only have two tile saws, and I could sell my bridge saw and really not miss it since it's seldom used.

But my weakness is woodworking routers. I have eight.

I've only owned two saws in my life. One was an MK101 that was dual voltage (110/220). My father bought it in 1983 for use by the family company's crews. When we closed, I kept the saw, and used it full time up until about 5 years ago, when I bought my Target. I still have that MK, but it's now Adam's.