Going to the dark side, need some help...

[SeventyOne]

Use a pneumatic reciprocating air saw - MUCH nicer control than any of the other methods and it has a tiny blade.

[snowblind]

Originally Posted by SeventyOne

Use a pneumatic reciprocating air saw - MUCH nicer control than any of the other methods and it has a tiny blade.

^^^^ Probably the best way for detail cuts in auto sheet metal that there is. I got one at Harbor Freight for around $30.

[trz1000]

I installed some 6x9's in my doors the other day and used a cutoff wheel to make the cuts. Installed the speakers before I thought to take some pics but here is a pic of the cutout. The yellow circle shows what happens when you go too slow (well yeah, and don't use painters tape - what can I say other than I know better but still did it the wrong way).

Due to excessive heat the paint rolled a bit on the bottom edge. Nevertheless, the damage to the paint was minimal and was only present on the cutout. There were no problems with the doors. Had there been any paint rolling the doors, some careful work with a file and some touch up paint and you'd be back in business.

You can also see a few spots on the cutout where I nicked the paint with the cutoff tool but it's the cutout so no harm no foul. But had that happened outside the cut, well I'd be pretty embarrassed about my workmanship to say the least.

For what it's worth, I do not recommend a cutoff wheel for cutting out speaker holes. Neatly cutting tight curves is an absolute pain with those. The long radius wasn't bad at all but the ends were tough. You can see that I wasn't able to quite follow the radius on the ends so I had to cut inside the line then shape the hole once the cutout was removed. A pneumatic reciprocating saw would be much, much better for this job. Let a "friend" borrow mine and it hasn't been returned so I used what I had.