Can a cheap angle grinder be used to cut concrete and ceramic tiles?

Question

I am interested in the Black & Decker KG100 600W Angle Grinder because it is cheap enough. I will only use it occasionally for small scale do-it-yourself home improvement works. But, I really need one that can cut ceramic tiles and concrete. I don't mind about the performance.

Are all angle grinder regardless of price and power rating suitable for cutting ceramic tiles and concrete? In particular the B&D KG100 I mentioned above. I'll use it only occasionally, so I don't mind waiting for a long time for it to finish the work. Other B&D models are 50%-100% more expensive and the power ratings are not much different(~600W-700W). So I'm wondering why that particular model is so cheap.

Answer 1

In most cases the cost is directly related to expected durability. In expensive commercial/professional grade tools, parts spin on ball bearings and motors are more powerful. They are designed to run allday every day at maximum speed where time is money. Home owner grade tools typically are designed to be used for brief periods of time and at less than maximum performance levels for the majority of their use. They contain less powerful motors and parts spin on bushings instead of bearings. In most cases they will last a long time as long as you respect the design limitations of the tool. If it starts to get warm while using it stop work and let it cool a while. Don't force the tool if it starts to bog down back off the pressure and let the tool do the work. I have a 10 year old $30 grinder that I cut over 100 slate floor tiles with and it is still running strong.

Answer 2

It looks like a fine tool for using occasionally. One reson for some tools being a lot more expensive are that they are intended for professional use.

For cutting concrete is seems that you just need a special blade:

http://www.nortonconsumer.com/concrete-cutting.aspx

There is a recommended maximum RPM of 12000 for cutting concrete with a blade of that size, and the KG100 does 11000, so that seems ideal.

For cutting creamic tiles you would need a wet saw, but on the other hand you can just score it with a glass cutter for straight cuts:

http://www.doityourself.com/stry/damagedtiles#.ULKG9YbcyM8

Answer 3

It depends what you mean by "cut tiles." Certainly an angle grinder has sufficient power to turn a disc of abrasive material and force it into a ceramic or concerete tile. But it will probably perform very poorly compared to a wet saw for two reasons:

1) It's not guided in any way. A tile saw is set up like a table saw, you push the tile into a diamond-edged blade. Because tiles are very brittle, it would be extremely difficult to cut one with any kind of precision (and without breaking it) using a handheld tool. It's probably also quite dangerous.

2) It's not cooled. A wet saw uses water to keep the blade cool. The consequences of this are that the "blade" or abrasive disc on the grinder would wear very quickly when cutting an extremely hard substance such as a ceramic tile.

If your needs are really basic, then I'd just get a manual tile cutter for straight cuts and/or a tile nipper for anything else.

On the other hand a cheap tile saw is actually really cheap. Cheaper than an angle grinder, and far cheaper than an angle grinder + a diamond blade. I think this is one of those situations where it makes a lot of sense to use the right tool.

I've done a lot of tiling with low-end tile saws. They really work fine for light-duty work. I'm sure it wouldn't hold up well in heavy-duty use, but for the occasional tiling job, they work fine.