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Pumpkin Surgery

Pumpkin Surgery
In this instructable, you will learn several common and less common procedures in cucurbita surgery. These include:
-lobotomy
-plastic surgery
-construction and use of an artificial brain
-cryogenic preservation.

And now that Halloween is over, I have added a postmortem examination. Read it before attempting to duplicate any of the procedures outlines here.
 
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Step 1Setting up Practice

Setting up Practice
You'll need different materials and tools for different processes:
For the lobotomy you'll need a knife and a spoon.
For the plastic surgery you'll need a sharpie and a knife.
For the artificial brain you'll need a large LED, a CR3202 battery, wires, a reed switch (optional), and a soldering iron.
For the cryogenic preservation, you'll need steel wire, pliers, a pumpkin-sized vessel (mine was a water pitcher), a roll of pennies, a large pot to boil water, water to boil in a large pot, and something to boil a large pot of water with.

And of course you'll need a patient. Select a pumpkin that will be easy to work with; I have one of those small round ones, but if you're feeling adventurous, you may learn on a larger pumpkin.
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9 comments
Oct 31, 2010. 5:45 AMJohnJY says:
Fruit should never looked surprised! XD
Oct 27, 2008. 12:22 PMJakeTobak says:
If you have something to vibrate against the side of the pitcher, you can probably get rid of some of the extra little bubbles.
Also, a battery holder should work if it's water tight, if water is getting into the battery holder it would probably short and not work anyway.If you're gonna just solder the wires directly to the battery, like you said, you would want to maybe put something around all the joints to make them water tight. Hot glue or epoxy might work. I know batteries + fire = bad, idk if they act weird when frozen though.
One other option might be to have the leads from the LED inside the pumpkin go out of the block of ice and have the power source not be frozen.
Nov 10, 2008. 5:55 AMRetroPlayer says:
Purified water (not 100% if boiling is good enough) is actually not conductive. And even if it was, the resistance of the water is greater than through the LED, so it shouldn't have been a problem.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080805025252AA5mzwc
Nov 10, 2008. 5:58 AMRetroPlayer says:
Sorry, I meant "not *very* conductive" especially to DC current.

And the rapid corrosion that Ian experienced was because de-ionized water dissolves metal, especially good conductors like copper or silver.
Nov 10, 2008. 6:05 AMRetroPlayer says:
The pressure from the ice forming was definitely an issue. Potting the entire artificial brain in epoxy would probably prevent all of the draw-backs that you experienced. Perhaps two pots, one for the LED and battery, and another with the switch (so you can put it near an edge. The insulation around the wires will probably prevent the water from dissolving the metal wire for quite a while (probably longer than the battery would last. You might also be able to create a small box hotglued to the inside of your bucket or pal that you put the battery (or even the entire circuit with the LED on long wires inside the ice) in so you can change it if needed. Hot glue the LED wires going into the box, too. This should prevent the water from going in there and freezing, too.
Oct 28, 2008. 3:33 AMfrollard says:
Hilarious writeup! Great project idea too...frozen pumpkins definitely stops people from stealing them as easily :D Not sure how long they'll last though pre-Halloween.

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Author:Ian M