homemade lumenok build-along !!

[KyleAllen]

Well Fritz Brown, you have gotten your wish. Your bow quiver build along did inspire me to get off my tail and do one of my own. (very nice work by the way)

Unless in good humor, please do not inform me that lumenoks are not traditional! They may not be traditional but however i find them to be a great assett when used with my traditional equipment. They leave no room for doubt of where your arrow hit. Oh yeah...and THERE COOL!! That being said, Ill get to it. Im not the genius that had the bright idea of how to make these but i did modify the method to make them better and much much easier to make.

To make a homemade lumenok you will need (pictured below, left to right) superglue, one battery powered bobber light, a universal nock, an 11/64 drill bit, a 1/16 drill bit, drill, and a short piece of oxygen hose like old farts use so they can breath(not pictured).
 

and heres a pic of the bobber light while still in the package.
     

Now for some advice on the materials. I have used gel superglue in the past with good results but used the regular stuff this time. I recommend an easton nock because they are made from a grade of plastic that is more suited for our needs. I discourage you from using a clear nock. They are indeed much brighter, but the plastic they make them from is brittle and ive had some break when shooting (they are weakened some by the drilling). The bobber lights can be found at bass pro, cabelas, gander mt., just about anywhere, and if your real lucky, your local walmart will have em. I prefer thill brand lights, because they sell them without all the other garb that you can see in the package. Oh and theyre cheaper  :D  

heres a close up of the materials
 

[KyleAllen]

Step one, chuck the 1/16 bit in the drill and drill a hole perpendicular to the length of the nock, into the flat side. Your hole should be about an 1/8" from the deepest portion of the string notch. You want the hole to hit the very back of the hollow portion of the nock. I placed the drill bit in the hole so maybe it would give you an idea of what i mean.
 

Just drill through until you hit the hollow.

Ok, now we need to bore out the inside of the nock to accept the light. So chuck up the 11/64 bit and get after it. I recomment putting the nock in a vice or a pair of pliers for this because i doubt you can hold the nock once the bit really gets a bite. Dont romp down on the vise, just close it enough where the nock cant spin. The eason nocks have two flat sides that sit against the jaws nicely. Do not stand on the drill drigger either. Just kind of tap it to ease the bit in slow. Every now in then pull it out to let the debris come out. If you go too fast you will get the nock hot and it will warp. Of course you want to go nice and parallel with the sides of the nock so you dont come out the side. Just take your time and keep going until you can see the bit through the hole you drilled in the side.
 

Go ahead and gently test fit the light to make sure you used the right bit. The light needs to slide in and out pretty freely.
             

Now we are ready to glue. Before we start, let me tell you that it is very critical that you do not get any glue on the junction between the plastic collar and the battery. These lights work on a very simple system. When the LED is pressed in, it contacts the battery and comes on. When pulled away it goes off. Therefore you can see how critcal it is that that junction be able to move freely. You can do it however you like but i prefer to insert the light (light end first) with the small strip of metal that goes from the batter through the collar, facing down. That just keeps it away from where ill be gluing from.

Oh and btw, when you look through the hole you drilled in the side, you should not be able to see more than about half the plastic collar. If that looks good, set the nock in a vise (or some holding device) at about a 45 degree angle. That way when you put glue in the hole, it will get in there good, but stands a better chance of not gluing the junction together. Well go ahead and very carefully put glue in the side hole a drop at a time. Give each drop a chance to drop in before adding another. I usually only do two or three drops. I dont want to risk getting too much in there and gluing the junction.
   

I gotta eat right quick and ill be back to finish.

[BMOELLER]

I wish you'd hurry up and eat I'm getting ready for beddy bye.

[KyleAllen]

I recommend to let the glue dry overnight, but if youre like me then you will give it 30 minutes and just hope its dry    

You may have to play around with different sizes of tubing. I shoot gold tips and the tubing i use has an outside diameter of about 1/4" and i cut it to 1/2" length. The tubing must grip the battery firmly and when assembled the light must grip the inside of the shaft as firmly as possible while still allowing you to fully insert it without damaging the light.

Slide the tubing onto the battery leaving about an 1/8" gap from the end of the nock. You want a little tubing hanging off the end of the battery so that it will make a taper down from the battery. That just makes it easier to install.
 

If your glue is dry, go ahead and test it out. Just gently push the nock and battery together until it clicks. If it does not come on, dont panic. Gently pull the battery away from the light until it clicks and then push it in again. I never had this problem with the get, but with this regular glue, the light seems to be seized up when i go to turn it on the first time. I have to use significant pressure to push in the battery and then have to disengage it with pliers. Then i just twist it to free it up and it works fine. I may be using too much glue. If u do decide to use the gel, you will have to put a small bead on the very tip of the LED before inserting the light into the nock. Plus you have to be very careful when sliding it into the nock so that you dont smear glue on the inside of the hole. I have had no trouble with it though. Also if you use the gel, after inserting the light, put a small bead of glue on the side hole and work it down in the hole and onto the light using a pin. The side hole makes a nice little side weld for the glue to bite to.

Your DONE!!! Slide it into the arrow slowly. It should not require excessive force but should be snug. If you did everything right, the light should come on as you insert the nock. Insert it fully and then just pull back gently on the nock to turn it off. Nock it on the string, rare back and let er go. The force of the string will engage the LED onto the battery and PRESTO. You got yourself a tracer round.
 

[KyleAllen]

whoops put in the wrong pic. Ill get the right one up in a minute.

Im sure i did a horrible job of explaining that and probably confused the crap out of ya, so feel free to ask questions. This is not a fool proof task. Your prolly gonna ruin some lights when you first start out (just like i did). Just stay at it. Its just like anything else. It gives you a great sense of pride to say that you made that baby. Im sure your wondering... the lights run about 2.50-3.00 if you can find them sold by their self. You end up with a lumenok for less than half of what they sell for. Hope yall enoyed this.
Kyle

[KyleAllen]

[bbassi]

COOL! now, do one on a wood arrow and you could make a fortune.  

[paleFace]

these would be great on the coon shoots!

[benny]

How about one for easton st axis?

[Shakes.602]

That IS Cool!! It Should have a Place of Honor on the How-To Forum, Right Mods?

[Tom Leemans]

Cool! O.K. now show us how to do that with a cedar arrow.  :p  
 

[Steve O]

I am not good enough to use wood arrows    , but if I did, how about this:

BEFORE you put the nock taper on, square up the flat end and drill out a hole to slip fit in the plastic nock.  You might have to use two diameters to clear out a smaller hole for the light portion and you might have to reinforce the nock end with some thread and epoxy, but you would gain the advantage of being able to twist the nock for feather clearance.

I would think this would have to be done in a lathe, not with a hand drill.

[KyleAllen]

steve O, thats exactly what i was thinking but i think a steady hand could do it without a lathe. I would for sure reinforce it though like you said. I might just serve the entire drilled portion and then super glu over the serving.

[Dano]

Lumenok's would work great on rivercane, but I'll be danged if I can find a source for the bobber lights "YET"      Thanks Kyle, great buildalong, I agree this needs to go into the archieves.

[Osagetree]

Ingenious!

[Steve O]

Dano,

I've seen them at WalMart...

They are a LOT of fun shooting especially at dusk, much more so at long range targets, but they DO make excellent aiming/focus points for your shooting partners  :D  .

[chris K.]

ya I just bought two of them for almost $20, I heard about this after I already bought them. I doubt if I would of bought them if it was not for a $20 gift card that I got from work. Heck the next time I get a gift card, I think I know what I will be buying at Walmart!

[Dano]

I looked at Walmart today, all ours has is the light tubes you have to break to use, but Cabelas came thru.   Nite Brite

[Jimbob]

Nice job, another thing for me to tinker with, great.

[uhdet]

Any idea yet how long the battery lasts??