Removing ceramic tile with a walk-behind or ride-on scraper is a breeze with the right tools. Carbide-tipped shanks are your secret weapon for reliable removal of ceramic tile. Several features of this shank make it a great choice for ceramic tile removal. The angle of this shank is designed to get under the tile and lift, reducing damage to the machine. These shanks come in solid steel or carbide tipped. The carbide tip offers a sharper stronger tip as you are removing hard goods with your scraper.
Carbide tipped shanks
As with any tooling, the ceramic tile removal shanks get dull over time. Your tooling will become more dull more quickly the harder your material is. Sharpen these ceramic tile removal shanks with a carbide silica green wheel. Using a bench grinder or a 4” hand grinder you can attach a green wheel and sharpen on the job or at home.
These shanks come in multiple sizes to fit our 550, 6280HD, and Rogue walk-behind scrapers, as well as our full line of Ride-on scrapers. The 550 uses a small carbide shank to remove ceramic til in bathrooms or other small residential rooms like kitchens. National’s 6280HD is larger and more powerful and fits a 1-inch or 2-inch shank for ceramic tile removal.
Tips & Tricks
One of the tricks to successful tile removal with a carbide tipped shank is to ditch the floor. Ditching the floor means running from one side of the room to the other in long lines. This breaks the ceramic tile into pieces, which are then cleaned up with a wider shank or a heavy duty blade. Know the type of ceramic tile you are taking up and match the shank to the material.
In addition to tooling, removing ceramic tile with a Ride-on scraper is much easier because of our dual-lift front end. Other styles of riders in the market only allow adjustment of tooling pitch, which lines the tooling up to hit the side of the tile and turns the machine into a battering ram. The Dual-lift on National’s ride-on scrapers allows the tooling to slide under the tile and lift it up. This eliminates wear and tear on the machine, and makes the removal process easier on the operator.