I wonder why it took so long for Detroit to start breaking rods, Seems like I remember McCullough doing it 30 years ago.
I built the inspection equipment for a Detroit automaker for this in the early 80s.
The notches were broached not laser cut.
A problem was that sometimes due to stuff in the metal the crack would split off into a "Y" with one leg becoming the winner.
IE: secondary cracks off the main one which could be very short and no big deal or almost long enough to come outside.
This is what my machine vision systems were looking for.
Other work was done laser engraving a path for the crack but lasers were crazy expensive and hard to keep running.
I know many millions were spent and super fast but production yield was a problem so it died.
This was also the point in time when the US auto builders got their first look inside a Japanese auto factory so "fancy automation, high tech" got thrown out the window as Detroit had more basic problems to solve.
The outboard motor guys were already using this but their HP and production volumes were much lower.
T'is a slick process saving many operations and a better rod if you can control it
Know think about hitting something with a big hammer and controlling how and where it breaks.
