Building a Holographic Raspberry Pi 5 Display Using Victorian Trickery

Published at : 23 Dec 2025

You’ve never seen a Raspberry Pi like THIS before. Say 'hi' to Pepper Pi!

We combined a Raspberry Pi 5, a glass dome, and a 150-year-old optical illusion called Pepper’s Ghost to create a transparent, floating display.

Practical? No.
Cool? Depends who you ask.

Build it yourself or win ours! Leave a 🧇 waffle-themed poem in the comments for a chance to win the full kit (Raspberry Pi 5 included!).

LINKS & STUFF
➜ GitHub Files: https://github.com/veebch/pepper (All 3D models, code)
➜ Reflector Calculator: https://www.veeb.ch/projects/the-valley-beneath-the-pepper-dome (No maths required—we did the hard part)
➜ Joshua Ellingson: https://www.instagram.com/ellingson.tv

What We Used:

- Raspberry Pi 5 (16GB)
- Round LED screen
- Glass Dome
- Transparent reflector
- Custom 3D-printed brass-look base

0 dumpster-dived radios

Chapters:
00:00 – The Dome Has a Secret
00:40 – Why We Abandoned the “Perfect” Radio Case
01:55 – Pepper’s Ghost: The Illusion Explained
02:14 – Mathematical Interlude
03:24 – Assembly
04:43 – Does It Actually Work? (Spoiler: Kinda)
05:35 – Dome Demo
06:30 – Win This Pi 5 Build! 🧇

💬 What would YOU put inside the dome? Let us know below!
🔔 Subscribe for more gloriously impractical tech projects.

You can find us here:
VEEB Shop: https://www.veeb.ch/store
GitHub: https://github.com/veebch
Instagram: https://instagram.com/v_e_e_b
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Veeb.projects
Email: hello@veeb.ch

Giveaway Terms:
Ends March 26th, 2025.
Global shipping included. No purchase necessary.

Credits:
Clip from Napoleon Dynamite used under fair use for commentary/education.

#raspberrypi5 #diytech #peppersghost #retrotech #veebprojects #diytech #diyprojects