This was an L-Band (~1.7GHz) feed I made for weather satellites like NOAA, Meteor, and MetOp. I’ve previously used some 3D-printed designs like DerekSGC’s (https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4980180) and T0nito’s (https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6436342), but my 3D printers often struggle with these.
Since I also have a laser cutter, I decided to try making one out of wood. It’s pretty simple, but works decently well! This one is a left-hand version, but could probably be a right-hand spiral by swapping two of the uprights. In addition to the wood pieces, it needs some kind of ground plane (I used an aluminum pan lid), some stiff wire (I pre-coiled around a 1/5″ PVC pipe), an SMA connector, and an LNA (I like the Nooelec SAWBird+GOES for L-band: https://amzn.to/41CO8sG).
(You also need a satellite dish, but hopefully you already have that if you’re looking for helical feeds!).
You can find the files here: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6963608
Or just use the images below. These are sized for 3mm wood, and scaled to 10px/mm. The engrave file can be burned as a raster with engrave power to mark which pieces go where, and the cut file used as a vector / centerline at cutting power.
Below is a preview image of what the full cut and engrave should look like (don’t use this file with the laser).
Mine came out a little loose, I tacked it together with hot glue and then more permanent glue. If you use thicker or thinner material you might have to edit the image to re-size some holes and/or tabs.
I have a video of the project here: https://youtu.be/GUHieqIKgMM
Saveitforparts 