Customer Reviews

MK Diamond 158252 MK-145 1/2-Horsepower 4-1/2-Inch Wet Tile Saw

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

This is a great little tile saw! It's easily worth twice the money. I bought it for a project that involved cutting 13 x 13 tiles for a fireplace. As long as you take your time, keep the water reservoir full and feed the tile slowly you should get good cuts. I've already made at least 200 cuts on large tile and the blade is still cutting like it did out of the box.

I really like the design; it's just like a little table saw. I have a lot of experience cutting wood on all kinds of machines but have never cut tile in my life. Inside of 5 minutes I was making all kinds of cuts with great results. I really like the ability to cut 45 and 22-degree angles by just tilting up the table face near the blade.

The only thing that I would change on this saw would be to make it out of metal instead of plastic. Then, of course you would probably have to pay 2 to 3 times as much for it. This is not necessarily a criticism, just an observation.

Once you start using the saw and you get tile fragments on the top of the cutting area, it's difficult to move the cutting guide because it jams on the cut tile particles. You just have to remember to stop and clean the table off with a brush and some water every time you want to move the guide. Cutting tile with this saw is very messy. The blade is water-cooled and even though it has a splashguard that covers the blade, water and tile particles dribble off the saw and on to the floor. I had my kitchen tile done by professionals and the $1000 machine that they used made just as much of a mess, I guess that just comes with the job of cutting tile.

Like I've said before, I've worked with a lot of different tools and this little saw is a winner.

I started using the saw making repetitive cuts and I thought the saw was great. It did a fine job. The little saw cut quick and clean with no problems.

I proceeded to cut pieces for trim work and the fun begin. Every tile was a different size and I had about 400 to do. It took me forever to do 40 because I spent a lot of time adjusting the rip fence. It is a pain after the table surface gets dirty.

Bottom line: my job was too large for this saw. I went out the next day and bought a more expensive saw with a sliding table and a bigger reservoir. I finished the rest of the tile in about 5 hrs. If you need a saw for repetitive cuts or for a handful of tile different sizes and you're on a budget then this is your saw.

I own a small home improvement/remodeling company, on occasion I will need to cut a few tiles but have no use for a large saw. (I call a tile sub in for large projects). I have made probably 600 cuts so far with this saw and it has worked like a champ and payed for itself with the first use. It's a bit on the loud side and will spray water at you if you over-fill the reservoir. It has plenty of power though, and the fence works just fine if it's lined up properly. Cleanup is made easy by spraying it outside with a garden hose. It is light, portable and will suit the average person that needs to cut a few tiles just fine. The bottom line...if you intend to do some small tiling projects around the home such as a bathroom, kitchen or entryway then this will easily do the job, if your going to be laying 1000 sq ft of tile with lots of cuts then durability might be an issue!! Buy the proper tool for the job at hand.

I used this saw for a 38 sqft bathroom with 13x13 porcelain tiles layed in a diamond pattern.

Because of the diamond pattern and tile size I could rarely use the fence or the diamond-guide, which meant most of my cuts were made by eye-balling my marks. I've never used another tile saw before, but eye-balling was pretty easy. The bigger tiles are a little clumbsy on this unit, but it's do-able.

The saw does spray water if you don't use the blade shroud (what do you expect, it's a wet saw). The shroud makes it hard to see your marks when you're eye-balling unless you can get the shroud to "hover" above your tile. Most of the time I just flipped the shroud out of the way and stood next to the saw instead of in front of it. If you stand in front of it, and don't use the shroud, expect to get wet. Overfilling the reservoir causes the blade to spray what seems to be twice as much water. Most solid debris seems to fly off to the side so standing to the side of the saw makes a raincoat unecessary, but it becomes really important to wear safety goggles!

Keep a bucket of water and a broom or brush handy. The unit tends to travel so try to secure it somehow so you don't have to chase it around your workbench or floor. I used mine in the garage... with the amount of debris and water that shoots everywhere I really would not recommend using this someplace that needs to stay neat and clean.

Based on the cost of renting a professional level saw this unit saved me a lot of money and stress. I was able to take my time and do things right. It's probably not suitable for a big project and I'm quite certain the [$$$] saws cut a lot faster, but you can't beat this price. It paid for itself twice in this project and on the next project it'll essentially be a free-bee.

I should add, the saw lasted through about 100sqft of tile before the motor finally gave out. This worked out to be 2 bathrooms, a vanity, and a kitchen counter. I bought another saw afterwards for about 3X the price and that saw has lasted a lot longer and made the jobs a lot easier. If you plan on using this saw for just a few small projects then go for it, but one thing I've noticed about owning a wet saw, once your friends know you have one, they'll ALL be borrowing it.

If you make a living installing tile this may not be the saw for you, but if you are a DIY home owner this saw is perfect. The cost is very reasonable, the cuts are are clean and precise, and if the blade guard is adjusted to the correct height this saw throws very little water. My saw has cut tiles for two bathrooms and a kitchen floor. I am currently using it to cut concrete pavers; I cut all the way around the paver and split the paver with a mason's chisel. Adjusting the rip fence takes a little patience but that is what seperates a [low cost] saw from a [high cost] saw.

To answer the question posed in a recent 'review': Yes, this saw can cut a 12" tile. The guide can be used to cut a 12" tile in half. Anything bigger would need to be cut 'free hand', but as a previous poster wrote, that's pretty easy.

I have cut LOTS of tile with this saw, from 4" wall tile to 12" floor tile. I had no problems whatsoever. It's a great tool for the price.

I bought this saw to do about 40 feet of edge cuts on floor tile with a few misgivings after reading the reviews here. However, having finished the job, I found nothing to complain about.

I cut 12"x12" slate tile which, while too big to allow use of the fence guide, was just fine with this saw. I haven't used a "professional" wet saw, but just made sure the water reservoir was full before each cut, and slowly pushed each tile through the blade, making sure I wasn't pushing hard enough to slow down or bind the motor.

I marked a line on each tile where I needed to cut, lined up the blade with one end of the line, checked with a straightedge against the blade to make sure I had the correct angle, turned on the saw, and started slowly pushing. The saw cut straight and true each time.

From reading the other reviews, I think you just need to buy this saw understanding that it's a lower-power, do-it-yourself oriented saw. It won't cut as quickly or as easily or as large as a more professional saw, but as long as you don't force it to do too much, it does just fine. I finished my cuts in a couple of days and they all turned out fine, even the two tiles where I had to make two right-angle cuts to get around a wall.

Normally I use a contractors type MK tile saw a friend owns. As this saw was unavailable I purchased the smaller saw. I have used it for cutting 1/4 slate so far and found it cuts very nearly as well as the larger saw. The design of the table surface allows free hand cutting as accurate as using the fence. The saw also makes very little mess as long as the water level is not above the mark. (However, an 1/8th inch above the line & it really throws water!). For overall ease of use I actually prefer it to the larger type saw.

I bought this saw for cutting 2x2 mosaic tile for a bathroom. I also wanted to something to cut the marble threshold for this room as well. For this project, I needed to make many cuts to fit the pieces of tile adjacent to one walls. I like to use a score/snap tile cutting tool when possible, but for small tiles or complex cuts, a wet saw does a much better job.

The saw performed very well. It cut slower than I thought it should, but still produced great cuts. I used this to cut a marble threshold that was about 1.5 inches thick and it did this much better than I expected. My biggest problem was cuttings getting under the fence making it hard to move. I didn't find this saw louder or messier (all wet saws are loud and messy) than others I've used.

If you're a DIYer, this is an excellent choice and better than renting. Understand you won't get the hot-knife-cutting-butter performance of a $500 saw, but if you take your time and cut slowly you'll get nice clean cuts.

I used this saw to tile my kitchen and foyer. Before I bought it, I was skeptical about it's power, but it had no problem cutting though 1/2" thick porcelin tile. I made many cuts, and the saw worked beautifully. The best part is the high quality blade. It doesn't chip the top of the tile like so many of the cheaper blades do. Even after dozens of cuts, the blade shows virtually no wear. This is a great saw.