How to make a homemade hologram projector

Here’s how to create a hologram projector in just a few minutes that will amaze young and old using a device and a few household materials.

Do you have a good dexterity and want to surprise the younger relatives visiting for Sunday lunch with something new, other than the usual necklace of paper children holding hands? Well, build them an object that will leave them speechless: a homemade hologram projector!

Needed for the hologram projector

• A fairly rigid plastic sheet (the one for the covers of the pantries, so to speak);
• A squared sheet;
• Pen, ruler, square, scissors, tape;
• And, of course, a smartphone.

Realization of the hologram projector

First thing, draw an isosceles trapezoid on the sheet of paper, with a base greater than 12 cm, a base less than 2 cm and a height of 8 cm. It is not difficult: it is enough to draw a horizontal line of 12 cm in length; from the middle trace the height of 8 cm vertically; from “up there” draw a horizontal line of 2 cm, one to the left and one to the right, and then join the four points together creating the oblique sides.

Now try to be precise in the retrace the trapezoid on the transparent plastic sheet… Four times! If you are good at exploiting the space you can already draw them attached to each other on the oblique sides, otherwise no problem.

Thanks to Scotch tape, attach the four trapezoids to each other on the oblique sides, so as to form a figure which is called a truncated pyramid.

Time of realization by an adult: 10 minutes.

Usage

Ready to use your hologram projector? Ask someone to connect to YouTube and search for the keyword “hologram”: a series of videos will appear a bit strange to see, with an image divided into four (here is an example), but just place your projector in the center, in the right position (imagine an X running through the image) and… Magic!

Variants

If you want to make a more robust hologram projector, just use the transparent CD cases cut with a cutter and glue them with hot glue (the adhesive tape may not hold).

If a tablet is available in the house, build the projector with a larger aspect ratio.

Test the proportions first! Do not increase the expectation of the little relatives and then disappoint them with an object that does not work! For devices with larger screens, larger projectors will be needed!

How to make a homemade hologram projector

In short, today I presented you a short tutorial on how to build a hologram projector which will surely amuse all the little relatives … But adults too, let’s face it!