Projects Ideas for a non abrasive circular saw blade to cut open a hood?

I need to cut open a hood around where the latch is. I don’t want sparks. Not sure of where they’d hit and I don’t want a flame underneath with a stuck hood.
I need to go through the hood skin and inner structure.
Hood is trashed, but I have to get it open.
Thoughts? Might use a cordless reciprocal saw if need be, but see snapped blades in my future.
Thanks

 

Step drill and tin snips.

 

Hadn’t thought of that. Not sure if my snips are up to the inner piece but can’t hurt to try.
Thanks.

 

Hole saw?

 

I bought a blade that I use on my table saw for sheet metal. It works better than expected. No sparks just chips as saw dust. Wondering if they make similar and smaller for a battery operated circular saw?
Only caveat: wear eye protection.

 

Drill a hole and have at it with a cordless Sawzall or equivalent?

 

Had a customer with a big Olds wagon, maybe a 67 or 68, who was low on brake fluid but couldn't get the hood open because the release cable had broken. This was probably some time in the early 80's and the old car had seen better days. I took a look and could see no way to get at the latch from underneath. He asked how he was going to get it open so I rolled out the torch and told him $5.00. He said, Hell No, and went on his way. As he left he hit a car at a stop sign about a block away because of no brakes. There was no damage. He rolled up in the drive and handed me a five dollar bill. Cut a hole just above the latch and released the hood.

 

Firemen use an axe.

oh..you already got useful suggestions. Have fun!

 

Harbor Freight extended tip nibbler.

 

https://www.harborfreight.com/air-reciprocating-saw-58910.html
One of these I have a Devibliss and love it, I just mount hack saw blades usually 1/2 or 1/3 of a blade just snap blade to length wanted. Easy to control on sheet metal.
Dan

 

I am leaning on the holesaw. I’ve up to two? inch ones.
Make a path and use a smaller hole saw for the inner structure.

Uh @jaracer , if I wasn’t afraid of a fire, the OA rig would have been put away by now

 

Go dinosaur. Cold chisel and a hammer.

 

You're going to need one of these before you die, so why not buy it now>

 

One other option: air chisel and a sheet metal blade. It sounds like you're not interested in saving the hood so an air chisel is a possibility.

 

No access from below?

 

Air chisel gets my vote too, fast, no sparks etc.

Cut a hole in the outer skin and get it out of the way then start cutting the inner structure where the latch is, this will give you a better sight picture when cutting the inner structure separately. Better control of the cut.


...

 

Oscillating tool.

 

I use this type of hole saws / cutters
Single or kits Hougen
Starting sizes 1/4 to like 3 inch
Pic is just 1 kit , sizes & series.
Drill
Mag drill
Mill

 

I am forever curious. I need the background info. What kind of car is it? Why is the hood already trashed? What damage would sparks from an abrasive cutoff wheel do? Did the carb leak and the engine is covered with gas? Let us know how you did.

 

I didn't have to go through the inner structure. Once I had a hole in the outer part, I could release the latch.

 

Mike use a holesaw as large as possible with a cordless drill.
But overlap the holes slightly.
Then peel up the triangle piece in between.
I would drill 1/4" pilot holes first, then remove the pilot drill bit from the holesaw. Use a piece of 1/4" round steel in the holesaw as a guide. (This saves breaking drill bits when the saw bites into thin steel)

 

Air hammer and panel cutter. Get pretty good at opening mangled hoods in the collision repair business

 

Peeled many a roof skin and other sheet metal off cars in junkyards with no torch rules with above mentioned panel cutter and a 3 pound hammer.

 

I have air shears , nipper , and saw . I prefer the saw if you have room

 

I re-read Mike's original post.
The hood is not worth saving.

The quickest method is what I do at our local "U-Pull"
That is use an old but sharpened wood chisel and a BFH .
It helps if you drill a hole to start and bash away.

 

That is why I recommend an oscillating tool. Cut hole in outer skin is probably all he needs plus only very small chance of cutting into core support. With reciprocal saw or hole, it would tougher to do.

 

First attempt will be to see if I can actually get a hole over the whole catch and latch. 2nd attempt will get some animal instincts going

 

I've got one with my SnapOn air chisel but have used it with a brass hammer on occasion when I was out where I needed to cut a section out of something and didn't have air or electricity.

I'm thinking that if you get the skin off the hood in an area big enough to work you can figure out how to get the latch open.

 

Hello,

After changing back to wood cutting mode, I stored the metal cutting blades away for another time. The majority of use is wood cutting, so, it is set up for fast use and quick storage in our garage drawers.

I had to cut up some metal tubing like a bicycle frame, but a little thinner wall tubing. It would not fit into the provided weekly trash containers without sticking up and out of the can. So, I had to cut them down to fit with the lid closed. My old Cut off saw easily cut through the metal tubing without any sparks and as I started slowly, the metal cut easily. Those metal cutting blades are excellent. No need to high speed a cut with the full pull of the trigger.

The blade was sharp and the metal tubing was now in several shorter pieces to fit inside of the weekly trash containers. There were plenty of shavings, but no sparks that I could see.

Jnaki

If sparks are your concern, go slowly and tape off the area that the cut will be made. A jig saw would do the same thing, but the cut-off saw was easier to handle and worked better. If the hood is trashed and will be disposed of after your cuttings, find the hood latches and cut the pattern around the plates. Now you can lift up your front locked hood from the rear. Or vise versa if it is a front opening hood. You did not say what hood and what car model.

A jig saw would require the requisite hole to fit the metal cutting blade in place and then follow your taped lines. The taped off area can also be instantly cut using the circular cut off saw. I like the cut off saw better than the jig saw. YRMV

 

Not a recommendation, but it is possible to cut sheet metal with a standard blade. Just put it on the saw backwards. Makes a hell of a racket. Used to do this to cut steel roofing.