Pumpkin Surgery

Step 9 Thawing and Postmortem Examination

Now that Halloween is over, I thought it best to thaw the pumpkin and see what went wrong.

First of all, Cryogenic preservation created a set of interesting fissures in the subject. I expect this was because the ice found it easier to tear apart the pumpkin than the pitcher it was in.

As expected, freezing took a toll on the artificial brain. The battery clip was a major part of the problem, but not because expanding ice separated the contacts as I had supposed, but mostly due to corrosion. Again, I would solder directly to the battery if i had a second chance to do this, and I would reinforce the connections with epoxy or hot glue (suggested by JakeTobak).

The other problem with the artificial brain was that the reed switch shattered. I was afraid of this, but willing to try. There is a possibility that it remained functional while frozen, however I would not lose another switch to test this theory. Unless you can protect the reed switch in the freezing process, I would suggest using an old fashioned switch set apart from the ice, perhaps mounted on the ice afterward with a little work.