using divide tool on intertwine object

Im wondering if there is a solution for this. I like to use the intertwine tool with strokes and would love to be able to expand the whole shape -> apply the divide tool -> select same colour -> delete. So this way I can remove my strokes and have negative space. Right now when you expand an intertwined shape it makes a bunch of clipping masks that are annoying to work around. If I try using just the divide tool on the intertwined object it releases the whole thing. The shape builder tool tends to make my program crash so im trying not to ever use that. Please let me know if anyone found a good way around this