Have you always wondered what would happen to a Backwoods Logger Mini if it were crushed under your own body? No, neither have I, but today I found out anyway. I took out one of the newly-assembled Mini prototypes for a trail run, stored securely in a plastic case in my hip pocket. I wish I could say I was chased down a cliff by a mountain lion or something equally exciting, but the truth is that I tripped on a sidewalk crack before I even made it to the trail. I was running downhill and moving pretty fast, so I went skidding and bumping down the sidewalk with pieces of my hands, knees, elbow, and hip left behind on the concrete. As I hobbled back home, I heard some ominous rattling noises in my pocket. Not good…
Further examination releaved the sad truth: the Mini took a direct hit when I fell, with all my body weight coming down on it, crushing it between my hip bone and the concrete. The plastic case was completely destroyed and smashed to pieces. The OLED glass was crushed, and part of the ribbon connector ripped off. The NEXT button was flattened and the spring mechanism killed. On the back of the Mini, the header pins were bent nearly 90 degrees over, the negative battery terminal was ripped straight off the board, and a bit of wood got stuck in the RTC crystal.
No, it does not still work.
I’m upset at having lost a prototype, since they take considerable time to assemble and the parts aren’t cheap. At least this makes a more interesting story than losing a prototype to a soldering error!
