You'd be amazed how many gunked up bike parts go in there. The beauty of the machine is it doesn't require much involvement. You set the sonic countdown timer and let it run. Obviously, increased time with constant heat will raise the temp but it does have a stuffoff for heat application. I've come back to bike parts sparking clean while work on other stuff. It also have a grate at the bottom to separate the parts from the gunk that collects at the bottom of the machine.

Wondering if a few people would be willing to take a video and post their engine running while looking down into the oil filler cap hole. I'm concerned the valve train isn't receiving as much oil as it should which could have caused the camshaft/lobes to wear rapdily. As previously mentioned at the beginning of this thread, the loud knocking noise came on after a relatively short drive at 60mph speeds. Wondering if something occurred which resulted in a lack of oil distribution to the valve train, leading to rapid wear of the cam lobes. Or am I off here and it can be typical for there to no noise and suddenly loud noise coming from worn lobes?

Subject of OP's post #1: Cam lobe condition as a source of noise.

Steps taken of inspect cam lobes: Ask for videos of someone else's engine.

The approach is certain to be definitive and rewarding.

I don't think you understand my reason for asking for a video. The cam cover is going to be removed and lobes inspected regardless. What I'm concerned about is identifying the CAUSE of the worn lobes. Was it typical wear or did it occur at an extremely accelerated rate due to lack of oil distribution. Thus, would like to see what oil distribution looks like on other engines when running and cap removed.

My 617 has a tube running parallel to the camshaft that continuously streams oil on each individual cam while the engine is running.