SELEM 2026 Sign-up Thread (SELEM 19)

Hi friends! Apologies for being a ghost this year; I have also had a difficult 2026 that started with my mom getting an unexpected stage 4 pancreatic cancer diagnosis in January :( I'm thankful that current circumstances have allowed me to shelve most of the rest of my life and help her through treatment + try to enjoy what time I have left with her, and so that's been the majority of my focus for this year.

My mom is responsible for my laser addiction and has insisted I still come up for the week since she knows how much this event means to me every year. Assuming nothing catastrophic happens last minute, I will be there and can't wait! These circumstances have also forced me to pull a project off the backburner and make it my one other focus this year, so I will also be bringing along a new group activity....

Mom was responsible for exposing me to my first lasers at a very early age - we lived in Japan when I was in kindergarten and she brought me to a museum that had an exhibit with holograms on display, and a room to showcase (very primitive early 90s) timelined laser shows. But that was enough to get me perpetually interested in seeing more, and when she got me a book about homemade holography when I was in middle school, building out a setup to do that properly has always been on my laser bucket list - and ideally something I wanted to do while she was still around to see it! She was a big film photography nerd for decades and spent a lot of time with our childhood photos in the darkroom. Since that timeframe is now quite uncertain, I decided to full send it this year on trying to build out the setup and actually make a childhood dream happen, and it's all coming with me!

I am gonna bring a small DIY isolation table I've cooked up that uses a couple 2'x2' optical breadboards as a work surface, and I've got two unopened orders of fresh plates from Litiholo that we can get into - a total of 40x 2"x3" plates, and 12x 4"x5" plates. I figured this was probably the best motivation I'll ever get to finally earn one of my laserist merit badges too, so I have finally acquired a laser from Sam Goldwasser's shop - a 20mW 460nm SLM coherent sapphire, which will be coming alongside a PL530. These plates need no chemical process to develop, so hopefully having above average laser quality + removing the ability to fuck up that part of the process will let us actually produce some results!

I would love to make this available as a group activity and send anyone interested home with any good shots you're able to get. Since this is also a learning experiment for me and my first time using this type of plate, the cost of all the inevitable media we'll fuck up is on me, just buy any plates that do turn out which you wanna keep! Plates are $7 each for a 2x3 and $25 for a 4x5.

I encourage everyone to bring some cool objects that we can use as subjects - obviously anything you wanna try to make a shot of for yourself, but if you have anything else that could translate to an interesting hologram it would be awesome to experiment with! Size needs to be roughly similar to the plate size it's being shot with, and matte reflective surfaces are the easiest to work with. If any of you folks bringing a 3d printer wanted to toss in some white filament, that's an endless source of great subjects. Anything with a lot of 3D detail or features that add perspective will be what translates particularly well to a cool hologram over a 2d photo.

Also, if any of you with big parts collections wanted to toss in any optics/optomechanics that might be useful, it would be awesome to have some options beyond what's in my box - My table is imperial and I have a fairly conmplete amount of optics/optomechanics already that are all coming along, but I would welcome any extra choices particularly for lenses/lens mounts, dichros if we wanna try a multi-wavelength exposure, etc. If anyone has a spatial filter/spatial filter parts that they wouldn't mind bringing, any of your shots are free - that's the one big optional-but-very-nice-to-have bit that I have not had the budget to source for myself yet. Even if you've only got pinholes and lenses that would be huge- I have quite a few X / X+Y / X+Y+Z micrometer stages and random brackets coming, so we could totally do without a fullblown purpose built holder for one. If you have an SLM laser and wanna try another wavelength option, there will be plenty of room on the table too!

Can't wait to see you all! Maybe we can luck out this year and not have load in/load out days be the hottest two days of August....maybe....

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by singlemode

Hi friends! Apologies for being a ghost this year; I have also had a difficult 2026 that started with my mom getting an unexpected stage 4 pancreatic cancer diagnosis in January :( I'm thankful that current circumstances have allowed me to shelve most of the rest of my life and help her through treatment + try to enjoy what time I have left with her, and so that's been the majority of my focus for this year.

My mom is responsible for my laser addiction and has insisted I still come up for the week since she knows how much this event means to me every year. Assuming nothing catastrophic happens last minute, I will be there and can't wait! These circumstances have also forced me to pull a project off the backburner and make it my one other focus this year, so I will also be bringing along a new group activity....

Mom was responsible for exposing me to my first lasers at a very early age - we lived in Japan when I was in kindergarten and she brought me to a museum that had an exhibit with holograms on display, and a room to showcase (very primitive early 90s) timelined laser shows. But that was enough to get me perpetually interested in seeing more, and when she got me a book about homemade holography when I was in middle school, building out a setup to do that properly has always been on my laser bucket list - and ideally something I wanted to do while she was still around to see it! She was a big film photography nerd for decades and spent a lot of time with our childhood photos in the darkroom. Since that timeframe is now quite uncertain, I decided to full send it this year on trying to build out the setup and actually make a childhood dream happen, and it's all coming with me!

I am gonna bring a small DIY isolation table I've cooked up that uses a couple 2'x2' optical breadboards as a work surface, and I've got two unopened orders of fresh plates from Litiholo that we can get into - a total of 40x 2"x3" plates, and 12x 4"x5" plates. I figured this was probably the best motivation I'll ever get to finally earn one of my laserist merit badges too, so I have finally acquired a laser from Sam Goldwasser's shop - a 20mW 460nm SLM coherent sapphire, which will be coming alongside a PL530. These plates need no chemical process to develop, so hopefully having above average laser quality + removing the ability to fuck up that part of the process will let us actually produce some results!

I would love to make this available as a group activity and send anyone interested home with any good shots you're able to get. Since this is also a learning experiment for me and my first time using this type of plate, the cost of all the inevitable media we'll fuck up is on me, just buy any plates that do turn out which you wanna keep! Plates are $7 each for a 2x3 and $25 for a 4x5.

I encourage everyone to bring some cool objects that we can use as subjects - obviously anything you wanna try to make a shot of for yourself, but if you have anything else that could translate to an interesting hologram it would be awesome to experiment with! Size needs to be roughly similar to the plate size it's being shot with, and matte reflective surfaces are the easiest to work with. If any of you folks bringing a 3d printer wanted to toss in some white filament, that's an endless source of great subjects. Anything with a lot of 3D detail or features that add perspective will be what translates particularly well to a cool hologram over a 2d photo.

Also, if any of you with big parts collections wanted to toss in any optics/optomechanics that might be useful, it would be awesome to have some options beyond what's in my box - My table is imperial and I have a fairly conmplete amount of optics/optomechanics already that are all coming along, but I would welcome any extra choices particularly for lenses/lens mounts, dichros if we wanna try a multi-wavelength exposure, etc. If anyone has a spatial filter/spatial filter parts that they wouldn't mind bringing, any of your shots are free - that's the one big optional-but-very-nice-to-have bit that I have not had the budget to source for myself yet. Even if you've only got pinholes and lenses that would be huge- I have quite a few X / X+Y / X+Y+Z micrometer stages and random brackets coming, so we could totally do without a fullblown purpose built holder for one. If you have an SLM laser and wanna try another wavelength option, there will be plenty of room on the table too!

Can't wait to see you all! Maybe we can luck out this year and not have load in/load out days be the hottest two days of August....maybe....

---

Wil,
So sorry to hear about your Mom. It sounds like you could use a few days away to recharge.

I am totally up for trying to make a hologram. I have a small collection I will try to bring with me.
Back in the 90's when I worked at COSI (Ohio Science Center) I tried to make holograms with a small HeNe, but they never developed properly. Lets see if I can do any better 30 years later. LOL

Whelp looks like I will be coming this year. Will send payment this weekend. Man the signup list is so short compared to 2019 ;(.
Anyone still buying these days I plan to bring a crate of junk to sell or trade. I am massively downsizing.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Lazerman121

Whelp looks like I will be coming this year. Will send payment this weekend. Man the signup list is so short compared to 2019 ;(.
Anyone still buying these days I plan to bring a crate of junk to sell or trade. I am massively downsizing.

---

cool. it'll be great to see you!

Wil: I did not realize that your Mom played such an important role in cultivating your interest in lasers. Very sorry to hear about her Pancreatic Cancer diagnosis; how is she responding to the implanted alpha radiation source treatment?

I agree with Chris though: you sound like you need a bit of a break. I know I pushed myself pretty hard when I started caring for my Mom when she was first diagnosed with Alzheimer's, and towards the end it really wore me down. It also dragged Marie down, which made everything harder. Not being able to take a family vacation for ~ 3 years is absolutely draining, especially when the grandkids were all in Virginia. (What's the saying? Happy Wife, Happy Life? Yeah, words to live by. :) )

The hologram project sounds AWESOME! My son, Daniel, will be bringing his two 3-D Printers (Creality K-1 and K-1 Max), so he should be able to whip up some interesting shapes to experiment with.

As for your request for interesting lenses and mounts, maybe David Francus can help? I know you guys chatted about this idea earlier, and I believe David is still planning to attend (although he hasn't registered yet), so if he does come to SELEM, maybe he can bring a sampling of lenses from his collection.?.

If we can get a pair of identical lenses, we can place them at double their focal length apart to make a Keplerian Collimator. Then we can position a pinhole in the middle, and as you move it towards the first lens, it will mask more and more of the edges of the beam. This is a very simply way to do spatial filtering on the cheap. (You can literally use a sheet of aluminum foil taped over a circular dichro mount with a hole poked in the center.)

Chris: I seem to remember you had several cool holograms that you brought to one of the FLEMs back in the day.?. Please, PLEASE bring as many of those as you can fit in your bag! I'd especially like to see "Lovely Rita" again, assuming you still have it... :rolleyes:

Zach: Very cool that you'll be joining us this year! I'll be sure to bring my collection of odd-wavelength pointers. ;) Feel free to bring stuff you want to sell or trade - as usual we will have some racks in the kitchen service hallway for the buy-sell-trade area.

As for the sign-up list being rather short, yeah, that was a bit surprising. I think people are waiting until the last minute to register this year, but I'm not sure why. Still, with some of the last-minute registrations that I know are coming, we should be able to make budget.

See everyone in a few days! (Can't wait!)

Adam

Hiya, I'm new to the community and can't wait to check out SELEM! Payment in progress now.

I have experience in lighting and fountain design, looking to learn more about lasers and to witness their greatness in person.

Very excited, see you soon!

fantastic. i took a hologram workshop from august muth and fred unterseher a few years back and loved every second of it. absolutely interested in participating. it'll be great to see you.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by singlemode

I am gonna bring a small DIY isolation table I've cooked up that uses a couple 2'x2' optical breadboards as a work surface, and I've got two unopened orders of fresh plates from Litiholo that we can get into - a total of 40x 2"x3" plates, and 12x 4"x5" plates. I figured this was probably the best motivation I'll ever get to finally earn one of my laserist merit badges too, so I have finally acquired a laser from Sam Goldwasser's shop - a 20mW 460nm SLM coherent sapphire, which will be coming alongside a PL530. These plates need no chemical process to develop, so hopefully having above average laser quality + removing the ability to fuck up that part of the process will let us actually produce some results!

I would love to make this available as a group activity and send anyone interested home with any good shots you're able to get. Since this is also a learning experiment for me and my first time using this type of plate, the cost of all the inevitable media we'll fuck up is on me, just buy any plates that do turn out which you wanna keep! Plates are $7 each for a 2x3 and $25 for a 4x5.

I encourage everyone to bring some cool objects that we can use as subjects - obviously anything you wanna try to make a shot of for yourself, but if you have anything else that could translate to an interesting hologram it would be awesome to experiment with! Size needs to be roughly similar to the plate size it's being shot with, and matte reflective surfaces are the easiest to work with. If any of you folks bringing a 3d printer wanted to toss in some white filament, that's an endless source of great subjects. Anything with a lot of 3D detail or features that add perspective will be what translates particularly well to a cool hologram over a 2d photo.

Also, if any of you with big parts collections wanted to toss in any optics/optomechanics that might be useful, it would be awesome to have some options beyond what's in my box - My table is imperial and I have a fairly conmplete amount of optics/optomechanics already that are all coming along, but I would welcome any extra choices particularly for lenses/lens mounts, dichros if we wanna try a multi-wavelength exposure, etc. If anyone has a spatial filter/spatial filter parts that they wouldn't mind bringing, any of your shots are free - that's the one big optional-but-very-nice-to-have bit that I have not had the budget to source for myself yet. Even if you've only got pinholes and lenses that would be huge- I have quite a few X / X+Y / X+Y+Z micrometer stages and random brackets coming, so we could totally do without a fullblown purpose built holder for one. If you have an SLM laser and wanna try another wavelength option, there will be plenty of room on the table too!

Can't wait to see you all! Maybe we can luck out this year and not have load in/load out days be the hottest two days of August....maybe....

---

Anyone that's coming up via I-95 or flying into BWI and would like to visit the X-Laser shop, just shoot me an email to coordinate

Ugh. Spent 6 hours packing up stuff yesterday, and spent another 6 hours today trying to tetris everything into the car and the trailer. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think I need a bigger trailer... Gonna be a long, slow ride north to Delaware, let me tell you! (Trailer is riding rather low this year, lol.) Really glad I went with the upgraded tires on the trailer last year when I had to replace them; they're clearly going to get a workout on this trip. Almost tempted to stop at a truck stop to get a weight, but I'm a little afraid of the number. (Shudder)

Should be a lot of fun this year though! Got plenty of cool gadgets to tinker with. The 8-bit CPU on breadboards is making a comeback, along with the Stirling engine, the plasma torroids, and the sparkle fiber. I've also got a couple sound-reactive ferro-fluid units that should be fun to play with, and a new plasma drinking glass that I can't wait to try out. (Just add your adult beverage of choice!)

I also snagged a hell of a deal on a large CNC router table (28" x 63" working area) with a laser attachment, although I have no idea if I'll be able to fit it in the trailer to take it home with me. (Brad is holding it for me for the moment.) At the very least, I hope we can get it working at SELEM and maybe do some custom carvings... I'm bringing some black acrylic and some basswood stock that we can experiment with.

Got some new laser projectors to add to the truss in Club-SELEM (as if we needed more power in that room), and of course, "Big Blue" will also be in attendance again this year. (DZ is bringing his son with him, and they both want to make S'mores again like David did several years ago.) This year I have some proper safety glasses for anyone crazy enough to put a WHITE marshmallow into the output beam of a 150 watt 445 nm blue laser... (Remember, you signed a waiver!)

Exactly 60 hours to load-in, and counting!

Adam

Happy to help out with any of the CNC questions, that's kinda my thing. What system did you get?