My brother in law works laying ceramic tiles and building walls in general housing. He needs to replace a small inadequate cutter with a more robust perhaps (industrial?)general purpose cutter suitable for tiles also. He budgets around 5000 baht but as he's about to do some work for us I don't mind topping up if something particularly good. I looked on Lazada which had a few options within that price range but they were unbranded ,no warranty and no cod payment option which isn't encouraging. Any general advice on brands and where to buy in the Korat area is welcome . Travelling to Swampy today so if anything en route could stop off. Thank you 

In Korat it might be worth your time to look at an authorized Makita dealer who will stock or obtain in 3 days or less, the professional Makita Masonry | Granite | Marble | Ceramic Tile cutters that are safe. I've seen tile setters at my home in Buriram use the Makita 4100NH3  and the larger Makita 4101RH with diamond wheels.  In my personal experience a motivated Makita dealer can obtain any Makita Tool from one of the eight wholesalers in 3 days or less if the Makita Tool is currently imported to Thailand and in stock at the wholesaler.  A step up in price is the genuine Rubi Tile cutting machines sold at selected dealers in Thailand.   Plenty of copies, but Rubi while not inexpensive seems to really be a better fit and finish tile cutting machine than the off brand red granite tile cutting machines sold at builders merchants and home improvement stores in Isaan. 

KTW has a Makita on sale right now: https://www.ktw.co.th/85mm-cordless-cutter-2

 

Or contact Bob at Buriram Builders Merchants and he might be able to  get you either a Makita or DeWALT at a decent price.  I sent you the contact details via PM earlier.

Thanks to Wayned and kamalabob for that guidance. I think you're both pointing in the direction of Makita rather than unknown Brands. Are the likes of Global/ Homepro stockists? Maybe negotiating with a specialist dealer is cheaper anyway?

I think he'd like to see one or two models in the flesh to decide .

I doubt that you could beat the price on the one at KTW unless Bob at Buriram can work a deal.  I  live in the sticks not near a Home Pro or Global but, IMHO, I doubt that they would stock them since they really are a specialty item.  But who Knows.  The one difference that I saw between the Makita and DeWALT is that the Makita has a water tank attached and it is battery powered.  The DeWALT that I saw was corded, I think, and had a hose that ran from the tool into a separate water tank and required a submersible pump. 

 

The pathetic thing is that when I bought my counter tops at  a big  "granite" place in Bangkok, they cut the oval for the sink with a 4" angle grinder with a diamond blade and cooled it with guy running water into the cut with a water hose.  The grinder was a corded unit and plugged into an ungrounded socket!

Hand held  tile  cutter the "lever" type makes nice clean fast  cuts with the wheel and 4  inch angle grinder for any fancy stuff, no need for  big  cutter.

 

 

I agree that the  hand cutter and angle grinder with a diamond blade  work fine for the standard ceramic tiles.  However, when you are laying and cutting the thicker, 2cm, simulated "polished granite" tiles the hand cutter is useless and a standard  angle grinder will "eat" diamond blades without proper water cooling. The Makita and DeWALT units are actually the low end of liquid cooled tile cutters.

21 hours ago, wayned said:

I agree that the  hand cutter and angle grinder with a diamond blade  work fine for the standard ceramic tiles.  However, when you are laying and cutting the thicker, 2cm, simulated "polished granite" tiles the hand cutter is useless and a standard  angle grinder will "eat" diamond blades without proper water cooling. The Makita and DeWALT units are actually the low end of liquid cooled tile cutters.

agreed, but he did say in his  op Ceramic  Tiles not 2cm thick granite