Scratch Holograms!

Have you ever noticed ghostly blobs floating above your black car hood on a sunny day? These blobs are scratch holograms! They appear when the sun is reflecting off circular scratches from activities like washing, polishing, or drying your car. They seem to float because each of your eyes sees the suns reflection at a different point, creating a 3D stereo pair.

'This Instructable has two parts:

Part 1: how to make scratch holograms with a compass

Part 2: how to make a device to draw scratch holograms

Step 1 Use a Compass to Make a Simple Demo

Let's start off with an experiment. Find a compass with sharp points at both tips (a drafting compass works well). Adjust the compass to about 2" between the tips.

Find a piece of plastic. I use 1/4" black acrylic (polycarbonate and styrene work fine also). The jewel case from a CD works fine but try to find one with a black CD holder insert because the hologram shows up better with a black background. The best scratches are barely visible and don't produce flakes of plastic. Double stick tape will hold the plastic to your working surface.

With the compass slightly angles, gently scratch an arc. Adjust the compass to a different radius, use the same center point, and make another scratch. In the image, I scratched an arc every 1/8" from a radius of 1.5" to 5.5".

Comments

[SecondSun]

blurry stuff does not make a hologram.

[lasermaster3531]

yes it does, you *****. a scratch hologram is a real hologram technique. look it up.

[SecondSun]

If scratch hologram is a hologram, then my morning bowel movement is art.

[brionic]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUy8lELWhJg
Your bowel movements must be amazing.

[Broom]

Agreed, lasermaster3531 - and I'm an optical engineer.

[gibbon]

Did you try to make one?

[SecondSun]

I already have access to one. Its not technically mine though.

[suayres]

To Muffinator: go to your friendly neighborhood Harbor Freight Tools & check out their cheap knockoffs--they work fine.I have one of their flex-shaft tools, and it works great, for not a lot of $$$.

[stringstretcher]

Hmmm... I would love to try that Dremel tool in my CNC router! Converting a drawing to Gcode and then turning it into a hologram...

[megapix]

Great instructable! Years ago I got involved with making laser holograms (big laser, expensive optical table, nasty chemicals). Then I started up again when I read about computer generated holograms (it took all night to calculate a single point with my IBM XT). I've seen the 3-d effect of swirls on a car, but it never occured to me that it was holographic. The presentation that you linked to explained it very well. Thanks!

[LoneWolf]

A-W-E-S-O-M-E

[T3h_Muffinator]

This is really, really, super cool! Too bad I don't have one of those fancy dremels!

[gibbon]

Hi T3h_Muffinator, You should really buy one of those fancy Dremels, but you can make a scratch hologram device with just about anything that spins. I just posted some other ideas on the last page. Happy Scratching!

[ZirconFive]

Hi, I like your Instructable.  I was wondering if you had any scratch hologram designs plotted.  I figured out the cube, and I just figured out how to do a pyramid.  I figured maybe someone had already figured out some more 3D shapes.   Here is a rough sketch of my pyramid plot.  They should all be squares.  Oh well.  I will try to add dots in between the corners too.
                               ----------------------------------------
                               |                                              |
                               |                                              |
                               |       ________________       |
                               |      |                               |       |
                               |      |                               |       |
                               |      |      __________     |       |
                               |      |     |                    |    |       |
                               |      |     |                    |    |       |
                               |___| __|__________|__|___ |

[ZirconFive]

:( it looks like my plot didn't work...

[gibbon]

You've probably already seen this...

http://www.eskimo.com/~billb/amateur/holo1.html

[T3h_Muffinator]

I know, I know... It's just that I recently bought a welder for $200, and I don't think my parents want me spending any more monies on tools for at least two months. Thanks!

[dombeef]

Two Months?!?!??? If I bought a welder they would not let me buy things for a year!

[girrrrrrr2]

if i bought a welder i would have no money to spend on metal to weld... and then would sell the welder to make money... and then would spend the money on metal only to realise that i just sold my welder.

[dombeef]

Yeah lol

[ZirconFive]

Making a 3D cube is easy.  I don't have a dremel, I just use a compass.  I bought some black acrylic, but I started on CD cases with black backing.  Get a compass with 2 sharp ends.  Scratch a 2x2cm square on the surface, you can scratch deep, this is a guide for one compass point.  Set your compass to 2cm.  Hold one point on the corner of the square and very gently drag your other compass point in an arc across the surface.  Move your guide point over a tiny bit and do another scratch.  The scratches should be very close together, they will overlap in places.  The more scratches the better, you can get very sharp lines if you take the time.  You don't want to scratch deep enough to displace any plastic, just create tiny grooves.  When you are finished with your square, increase the width of your compass a tiny bit and do scratches on just the four corners of the square.  Continue increasing the width of the compass (the depth/height of the hologram) and making scratches from the corners until you have reached 4cm.  Then do a second full square, following the same guide from the first square.  Then go put your hologram on the ground in the sun, in between you and the sun.  If the arcs of the scratches are arcing toward you, you will see the cube sunken beneath the surface.  If you turn it around the cube will float 2 cm above the surface.  All my friends are amazed.  I am trying all kinds of stuff, but I don't know any algebra.

[hornbadoing]

you ar my hero <3 lol jk but awsom

[gibbon]

"<3 lol jk" Please translate.

[dombeef]

"Heart Laugh out loud joking"

[mastercheeser]

i think those are holographs not holograms cuz holograms are projected in threedee

[lasermaster3531]

if you do these right they are 3D. you need algebra equations to make a cube or a tetrahedron etc, but you can do it. these instructions tell you how to make a flat image floating in the plastic, but complex 3D images are possible, too.

[invisiblelight386]

if you are doing these by hand try using black CDs. i tried it with black Memorex CD-Rs

[gibbon]

Do you have any photos? I'd like to see.

[DamionLee]

Nice idea, definitely worth some time playing about with. Have a few ideas of what I'll be trying. Thanks. For clarification the correct term is indeed hologram (which has nothing to do with projection of images). Confusion arises from the term 'holography' which is a photographic technique to produce a 3D image. These 3D images are called holograms. A holograph is actually a text document which has been hand written by the same person that signed it. Easy for the terms to be crossed over though.

[lordoffire]

hmmm....very interesting

[VIRON]

Scratch holograms are great. I've been pondering a way to make a sundial effect so that you get different messages, or the time of day.

[gibbon]

Nice idea! It seems like you could do that by drawing the numbers with arcs at very specific angles. I've made very simple animations with a compass using the instructions in this document (see section 3.3 Controlling the horizontal limits of allowed viewing angles)

http://amasci.com/amateur/hand1.html

This is not related, but have you seen a digital sundial?

http://www.digitalsundial.com/

[VIRON]

Yes, digital sundials work in a way similar to lenticular lenses.

[VIRON]

Bill Beatty explains how to hide images behind other ones, but as I understand it, by stopping the arc, so I'm not sure how or if that effect could be done with circles. I liked your prototype that was based on the compass and it gave me the idea of having the cutting pins moveable along the diameter to change the side of the circles. Does having two or more non-central pins help besides balancing the motor?

[gibbon]

Using two pins does balance the tool. If you use the guard, one pin works fine. I started using two pins when I was experimenting with making quick 3D drawings without the guard.

[VIRON]

Gibbon, just curious, can your tool make images with depth like a cube, or only floating ones like written words? I'm assuming you have to move the pins to make a different level of depth; does centifugal force increase the depth when you speed up the dremel by moving the pins further apart causing bigger arcs? Collaborating... :)

[gibbon]

Yes! You can get 3D effects by removing the guard, using longer pins, and relying on the pins and rubber flexing to make bigger circles by pusing on the device. Since the guard is a safety device, I don't want to suggest drawing with it off. If you must risk bodily harm, try attaching a laser pointer to the Dremel to help tracing the thing you're drawing. I've also played with the centrifugal force idea. I'll post a photo of a design that involves two leaf springs that flex outward when the motor is turned on.

[rimar2000]

Awesome, congratulations. I was'nt try it, but it seems very interesting.