Buying My First Setup and using the book Homemade Holograms

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indigital

Buying My First Setup and using the book Homemade Holograms

Post by indigital »

Hello,

I am finally gathering all the materials for my first setup after taking a class with Sam Moree several years ago. I'm using the book "Homemade Holograms" by John Iovine as my guide and have just bought a 7.5mW HeNe Laser and 15 commercial grade front surface mirrors on ebay. I'm still looking on anchor optics for experimental grade 1 plan/double-convex 9mm and 12mm lenses, -8mm double-concave lenses, 1:1 9:1 and 3:7 beamsplitters, 3 spherical mirrors, and possibly a spatial filter (they look expensive) all according to the book. I'm not sure how to determine what size lenses to order except to make sure they're wider then the lasers beam and comfortable to handle. I will focus next on getting BB plates and jd-2 developer. The book also has instructions for an incredibly simple isolation table using a steel plate, a wood plank, inner tubes and carpet. I'm dead set on making my own holograms now after waiting this long so I will continue to post my progress here and would greatly appreciate any advice.

See You All Again,

Brandon
rzeheb

Buying My First Setup and using the book Homemade Holograms

Post by rzeheb »

Hi Brandon. Welcome to the forum. Have fun and keep us posted on your progress.
Tom B.

Buying My First Setup and using the book Homemade Holograms

Post by Tom B. »

Welcome Brandon.

Iovine's book was a MAJOR inspiration to me as a beginner. Graham Saxby's "Practical Holography" is the next book you MUST buy.
Neither are really up to date on modern chemistry. BB plates are VERY good. For chemistry on these fine-grained plates, I prefer JD-4
type chemistry (metol/ascorbic acid) except using ferric EDTA bleach instead of copper sulphate. Standard JD-4 works quite
well and would be a good place to start, then try variations from Colin's brew bible: http://www.designerinlight.com/holo/chem.htm

My ferric versus copper preference may be due to the fact that I tune my holograms to an amber hue, similar to any residual ferric stain that might be
left whereas copper sulphate seemed to leave a faint bluish hue which did not go away.

Something close to my current recipe here:
Metol-Ascorbate developer courtesy of Laser Reflections

The formula is as follows:
Metol-Acorbate Developer (Part A + Part B)
Part A:
Metol 10g
Ascorbic Acid 80g
Water to 1000ml
Part B:
Sodium Carbonate Anhydrous 120g
Sodium Hydroxide 14g
Potassium Bromide 4g
Water to 1000ml

Use it in combination with a Fe-EDTA bleach - a safe,
stable bleach which has a long shelf life.

Fe-EDTA Bleach
EDTA (2Na) 30g
Fe(III) Sulfate 30g
Potassium Bromide 30g
Sodium Hydrogen Sulfate Crystals 30g
Water to 1000ml
indigital

Buying My First Setup and using the book Homemade Holograms

Post by indigital »

Thanks Tom and Rzeheb,

I would like to try your developer recipe Tom, where should I look to get those ingredients, or does integraf carry everything? I'm working up the nerve in buying all my optics from anchor optics either today or tomorrow, I think I'll use the instructions in the "Homemade Holograms" book for making the mounts because they are extremely expensive and look rather complicated otherwise. I've been researching for a good light source to use to display my portrait hologram that was made at the holocenter with their pulsed-laser. I don't want to invest the money for a sodium vapor ballast but I did find out that sylvania and lighting science are offering high-performance LED bulbs now. I have several holograms from my class with Sam, but I can't figure out how to view one which has a bluish tint to it, does anyone have any ideas?

Thanks,

Brandon
indigital

Buying My First Setup and using the book Homemade Holograms

Post by indigital »

O.k.,

I've gone through anchor optics and picked:

-DCV 11.5mm diameter -8mm FL grade 1
-DCX 10mm diameter 9mm FL ex.1 (?)
-PCX 10mm 12mm FL grade 1
-Beamsplitter 33.5x42x3mm 90/10
-Beamsplitter 8x27x1mm 50/50
-Beamsplitter 25x28x1 30/70

Will these all work for a holography setup? The book doesn't specify too much other then focal lengths. The spherical mirrors are expensive and the spatial filters are even worse. Does anybody know where to get cheaper spherical mirrors or do they not get any cheaper then they are over at anchor optics? Also, what focal length should I look for in spherical mirrors and is there any other factors that need to be considered that I might be forgetting? Any advice or direction will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Brandon
Colin Kaminski

Buying My First Setup and using the book Homemade Holograms

Post by Colin Kaminski »

You can use a parabolic telescope mirror. Try Coulter Optics and E-Bay.

If you search the holowiki for spatial filters there are some ways you can make your own.
rzeheb

Buying My First Setup and using the book Homemade Holograms

Post by rzeheb »

Hi Brandon. Rather than trying to fully equip your lab from the very start, you may wish to start out by purchasing or otherwise aquiring a few basic components and then slowly adding to your equipment as you go along. You probably won't be satisfied for very long without a spatial filter or variable beam splitter, but you can certainly get going without them. I think you will find that the ability to firmly mount your optical components and then finely adjust beam paths is something that will make your life easier going forward. Magnetic bases from Harbor Freight are very reasonably priced (and you can't have too many, believe me). I have mostly jury-rigged my own mirror mounts and lens mounts but I really appreciate the few (actually only one) 3-axis mirror mounts that I have. They are expensive, but you may find someone on this forum or elsewhere selling them at more reasonable prices (if you do, let me know, I need at least one or two more :whistle: ). 10X and 20X mircrosope objective lenses work well as beam expanders, but you will need to find a way to mount and manipulate them.

Ron
indigital

Buying My First Setup and using the book Homemade Holograms

Post by indigital »

Thanks Colin and Rzeheb,

I will definitely check out holowiki on how to make my own spatial filter. My wife is allowing me a spending cap of a few hundred dollars before coming down on me so I'm taking advantage of that. But I probably won't be able to afford spherical mirrors or a spatial filter unless I can find them for much cheaper. I have been looking around the internet looking for parabolic telescope mirrors as Colin instructed and I found a decent surplus store at surplusshed.com. A search for spherical mirrors gave me quite a bit of results, but most of them say "uncoated". I did find one "32mm jaegers concave aluminum spherical mirror" with a 5mm FL for only $2.50 at

http://www.surplusshed.com/pages/item/l10012.html

and ebay has an auction for "New Aluminum Concave Spherical Mirror" for $10 at

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-ALUMINUM-CONCAV ... _514wt_881

and a "10mm Spatial Filter Lens" for $35 at

http://cgi.ebay.com/nLine-Corp-SPATIAL- ... 5578wt_782

but I'm not sure what exactly to look for and at those prices I'm afraid its too good to be true...

Lastly, I've been scouring ebay since I found out they carry this stuff and in an effort to be resourceful I found 15 front surface mirrors being sold for $23 at http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 1796wt_881 and a set of 300 Double Concave lenses sold for $58 at http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 3124wt_881.

Thanks,
Brandon
dave battin

Buying My First Setup and using the book Homemade Holograms

Post by dave battin »

hey Brandon! i hope im not to late as i have a bunch of stuff i can send you to help you get going befor you blow the bank on setup costs, you will need to save that money for film ! I have some good front surface mirrors and a small concave mirror good for expanding, lens or two .

i see you live in NC so shipping is null

send me your address thru PM and ill send asap

the best, Dave
Tom B.

Buying My First Setup and using the book Homemade Holograms

Post by Tom B. »

indigital wrote:I would like to try your developer recipe Tom, where should I look to get those ingredients, or does integraf carry everything?
The bleach recipe credit goes to Nick Phillips. I don't know if you want to immediately jump into the chemistry, but when you do, Photographer's Formulary sells the various JD developer kits and a wide range of bulk chemicals for custom recipes. I started out with the JD kits as something known to work and then later began experimenting with other mixes.

http://www.photoformulary.com

Re developer/bleach - JD-4 developer should be mixed fresh for each session (it goes bad within a day or so after mixing A and B) but the bleach lasts a long time and rarely needs changing.
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