just a quick question---what are you all using for a vct cutter?
vct cutter
- Thread starter rugaddict
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Help Support Flooring Forum - DIY & Professional:
I have a Crain and a Gundlach.
The Gundlach is my favorite.
The Gundlach is my favorite.
Nick
In Remembrance
I have a Old crain. Use it to cut T cap , cove , and vct .
model#s links?
Always just scored and snapped.
Nick
In Remembrance
So did i , Till i tried it on cove ,and got a factory edge . then i tried it on T cap .
i always scored and snapped too but around xmass got involved in some commercial work that gave me a greater appreciation for the finer points of vct----hallways 100x6---up to existing vct--what a trip--
Not much commercial work around here. Had a chance to buy a Crain last summer at a flea market for $100. But I didn't cause I haven't done any VCT for probably 10 years.
Gundlach Model H-----like this one:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Beno-J-Gundlach-Tile-Cutter-Model-H-/161200552688
I got mine off Ebay for $66 including shipping. Took me more than an hour to get the rust off and sharpen everything up. I took it completely apart and soaked everything in 3 in 1 oil. The steel wool and wire brushes on the drill motor and bench grinder. It's the same model I started with and used for around 30 years before it got damaged beyond repair.
The Crain is a Model A I got when the Gundlach broke. It's OK but just doesn't feel the same.
I don't recall how I got that one. I'm SURE I didn't buy it new for retail price.
I have the Crain also. There's nothing like a good sharp blade on them things too.
Nick
In Remembrance
My Crain must be ions old . never changed the blade, and that sucker still cuts like new .
When I got the one I have, maybe 20 years ago, it was used. I used it for a couple years and decided to put a new blade on it. What a surprise that was. The new one felt like I wasn't cutting anything. Nice clean edges you could butt to. Must have been awful dull. It was free though.
This'll do a job on your blades real fast:
http://www.armstrong.com/commflooringna/products/vct/excelon-stonetex/_/N-75hZ1z141xu
A couple of big jobs with Stonetex-------or the equivalent made by all the other brands and you really can't get them back to being as sharp as a new blade without a machine shop. They're toast. Thank goodness I haven't had to install that stuff recently. I used to make the shop send out their cutters when there was a lot of it to do. Normally, I use mine and let the apprentice borrow my spare. But screw that if it's going to cost me TWO new sets of blades.
For normal dullness I take the blades out, hold them tight to the work bench and gently pass the diamond whetstone over the edge careful to maintain the original angle.
http://www.sharpeningsupplies.com/6-Diamond-Whetstone-P6C24.aspx
Good as new and my shop has done many hundreds of thousands of square feet of VCT just over the last few years.
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incognito--i salute you my brother---my recent hallway experience has opened my eyes to the complexity involved in what seems to be the simplest things---man oh man i dont know if its me or the vct but that stuff sure does wander--btw the tile cutter i got at the po is a p.o.c.
Where tiles are off square being laid over less than perfectly flat slabs you're often going to need those new tile cutter blades to trim back rows within the field. It's no problem scoring and snapping cuts into a wall. That looks like shit on a white tile anywhere within the field. You just don't do that. You need a good cutter.
If the tiles were cut perfectly square and then cooled all to a consistent size AND you were laying over perfectly flat and level slabs life would be very easy.
No, I've never seen that either.
Just like carpet, wood, ceramic you can get very good and very fast at resilient tile when the shop you work at sticks you on that working along side very experienced guys for many years tossing in hundreds and thousands of boxes per week in all sorts of chopped up or wide open areas til the only thing you can do to break the monotony is RACE.
Nick
In Remembrance
It's the VCT ,And even the least little wave in the floor .
Me too, and I use it for vinyl plank as well. I will pull it and sharpen it once every ten years or so.
Nick
In Remembrance
Good to know E . Thanks .
