How to Drive a Board Along the Board

Flat and wavy slate sheets are widely used as roofing. During their installation, there is a need for cutting, which is a rather specific operation.

How to organize slate cutting

The slate is characterized by sufficient fragility, which is why during the breaking or sawing of sheets, the formation of very small asbestos fibers and particles. Asbestos is known to be a harmful substance that provokes the occurrence of cancer. So that the cutting of the material is not accompanied by its destruction, with the appearance of asbestos dust, you need to know what the slate is cut with and use protective equipment.

Requirement for cutting slate sheets:

• Mandatory use of personal protective equipment. For respiratory organs it is a respirator, for the eyes. Special glasses, for the skin. Gloves and dense clothes. In addition, a lot of noise is generated during the operation of a detachable electric tool: anti-noise headphones will help from it.
• In order to reduce the amount of dust generated by an order of magnitude and make the slate less fragile, the cut area is wetted with water before cutting. To do this, you can use wet rags or direct watering of the cutting line during operation.
• When working on the street, it is important to find a place so that the resulting asbestos dust is carried away by the wind away from the operator.
• If the procedure is performed indoors, there should not be anyone else except the workers. All doors must be tightly closed, taking measures for their additional sealing.

How to cut a slate angle grinder. Which disk is cut

This procedure can be performed using two types of disks along a slate:

Stone disc. In this case, no significant effort is required. It is important to organize a constant flow of water with a thin stream to the place of contact of the angle grinder and slate. In this way, cooling of the disc and prevention of dust are achieved. The easiest way to do this is to place an assistant next to you with a garden hose or a cut plastic bottle. When working alone, the hose with water is fixed in a convenient position for watering. Using an angle grinder and a stone disc, it is better to cut along the slate wave. For convenience, before starting work, the sheet is marked and laid on a flat surface. If the cut is carried out near the edge of the sheet, a wide board is placed under it.

If necessary, the cut in the direction transverse to the waves is divided into two stages. First, an incision is made of convex ridges. Then, turning the slate over, the procedure is repeated: it turns out that those ridges that were below are on top. If everything is done correctly, the sheet neatly splits into two parts. At the end of work, the tool should be thoroughly wiped from dust, especially its working part. The fact is that if asbestos-cement layers become petrified, removing them from the surface of the disk for an angle grinder along a slate will be very difficult. Use a soft, dry cloth for cleaning.

Diamond wheel. Using an angle grinder with a diamond wheel, you can cut the slate in any direction. For greater efficiency, it is pre-wetted, increasing the elasticity and suppleness of the material. In addition, this will significantly reduce the amount of dust that appears. If the cutting is carried out in the winter, then the slate sheets can simply be laid on top of the snow: in this case, most of the asbestos dust is simply absorbed into the snow cover.

How to Drive a Board Along the Board

In addition to cutting in any direction, an angle grinder with a diamond wheel can grind the edges of the slate sheet. Due to this, an improvement in the resistance of the material to climatic influences is achieved. It is also convenient to cut the corners of sheets with a diamond wheel if they do not move halfway during laying.

How to cut slate from power tools

In addition to an angle grinder, a cutting machine equipped with a stone cutting disc can also be used to cut slate. The preparatory procedure here is the same as in the case of the angle grinder: the sheet is first marked out and then moistened. When working with a cutting machine, it is important not to allow any shifts, holding the disc exactly along the marking. For one approach, it is usually not possible to cut the slate, therefore, after wetting the incision with water, the procedure is repeated again, due to which the incision deepens. As a rule, to comfortably break the slate, 3-4 such approaches are required.

For sawing wet slate, you can use a conventional jigsaw, equipping it with canvases with a small tooth. The spindle is set in a low gear mode. When using this tool, it is important to observe increased accuracy, avoiding any pressure on the slate, otherwise it will crumble. The use of a jigsaw is justified only in the case of small amounts of such work.

Mechanical tools

If cutting slate is carried out indoors, or a suitable power tool is not available, classic tricks come to the rescue than cutting slate.

In this case, the soaked sheet can be cut in the following ways:

• Hacksaw. To do this, a tool with interchangeable blades and small teeth is suitable. It is necessary to stock up on several such canvases in advance, since during the course of work they become dull rather quickly and become clogged with asbestos dust. During cutting it is recommended to avoid pressure, otherwise brittle material may break.
• Hand cutter. In this case, it will be necessary to deepen the incision several times according to the applied marking. Between approaches it is necessary to wet the notch line. When the cutter goes deeper by 2/3 of the sheet thickness, it can be broken. To do this, a wooden plank is placed under the slate, just along the notch line: after clicking on the edges of the sheet, it can easily split into two parts.
• Hammer and Roofing Nail. For this, the marking line in many places is carefully punched with a nail. It is advisable to make as many of these holes as possible. This will only contribute to the quality of the fracture. When applying holes in the direction longitudinal to the wave, the slate is turned so that this wave passes below. After applying a series of holes, a wooden block or rail is placed under them: by clicking on the edges of the sheet, they break it. To facilitate this procedure, it is allowed to tap the fault line with a hammer.

To implement this method, special slate nails will be required. They are distinguished from ordinary ones by the presence of a special shape of the rod and a soft head, which avoids splitting of sheets during clogging. To speed up the process of equipping the slate with a series of holes, roofing nails are stuffed into the block. This kind of comb is usually used for continuous work with slate sheets.

Cutting flat slate at home

To separate flat slate sheets, any method of cutting a wavy slate can be taken into service. However, it is most convenient to cut an even slate with an angle grinder with a disc over the stone. For the procedure, a flat surface is selected on which the material is laid. It can be a simple wooden flooring, or a dense dirt platform. The main thing is that the bottom base is not expensive, since during cutting it will be damaged. When cutting near the edge of the slate, it is advisable to place a wooden rail of the desired length under it. Before cutting flat slate at home, you need to organize the water supply to the place of work, to reduce the amount of asbestos dust

Regardless of which disk the slate is cut into, it is important to avoid rushing and to exercise maximum accuracy. Any careless movement can cause sheets to crack, which, as you know, cannot be glued together. If such work is carried out for the first time, you should definitely familiarize yourself with the recommendations on how to saw off the slate. If possible, it is best to first practice on an unnecessary old piece of material.