Homemade Lighted Nock review (w/ pictures)
 

First off, I would like to thank Lunker hunter for his video and detailed instructions.

I have had directions for making these homemade lighted nocks for quite some time, but only after I saw his video did I spring into action to make them.

Unfortunately, I had already bought a 3-pack of Lumenoks. But either way, the Lumenoks gave me the opportunity to run a little test after making my own lighted nock.

I choose to create an all "green" lighted nock. I used a Green Thill light (twist kind, which I do not recommend, use the press on kind as described in the Lunker hunter's video) and a Flo. Green Gold Tip 22 nock. I think they turned out pretty nice.

Not only does this nock seem to be pretty stout, I enjoyed making it. There is something about working on or buildingyour own equipment which makes you feel good.

Follow the directions in this video to create your own lighted nock.

http://www.huntingnet.com/forum/tm.aspx?m=1741690

If you follow the steps correctly, you should have no problem creating well crafted nocks such as this one:

Just the nock, light is on:



In the arrow, light on:



In the arrow, light off:



From the shot angle:




So far, so good right? Now how about a little challenge?

I luckily had a Lumenok on hand. While I understand "Red" vs. "Green" might create a potential "Apple" vs. "Orange" effect, I still feel it was valuable to show how the two compare.

I shot these two arrows at approximately 15 yards in my basement.

I took the picture from directly behind the arrows at 5 feet.



For something that cost me less than $3.50 and 5 minutes of my time, I am happy to say I am pleased with the results.

While the Lumenok appears to be a touch brighter, you have no difficulty, in pure darkness, spotting the homemade "Green" nock on the upper right.

I was also able to buy two push on type redThill lights as well, all for under $12. Remember, when you are buying the Thill lights, make sure you buy the push on type. Not the twist on kind. Unforunately, I didn't read the packaging before I bought the green one. I was just excited Thill made a green light, something different!

Now that nock light is stuck on. Ohh well, I can now test the true battery life and compare it to what Thill advertises it at.

Hopefully the directions crafted by Lunker hunter, along with my test results may steer you "handymen" to customize your own lighted nock, rather than buying them.

Hope things are well this season, Happy Hunting and God Bless!

Bols

RE: Homemade Lighted Nock review (w/ pictures)
 

Nice...thanks for the little comparison test between the two. I saw the video and I would have to say that it inspired me to go and try to make my own as well. Do you know how much weight it adds to the back of the arrow? Did you notice any problems with your tuning being off with the added weight??

RE: Homemade Lighted Nock review (w/ pictures)
 

I make mine very similar to that except I go to the craft store and buy 1/4" wooden dowel cut it down to about 3/8" long pieces and insert them inside the arrow shaft. The dowel weighs maybe 1 grain and I do not have to use any glue or anything. That way if I have a Thill light go bad which they wil easily do, all I have to do is remove the nock and replace it. Also I don't have to use 2 nocks to make 1.

RE: Homemade Lighted Nock review (w/ pictures)
 

I need to clarify something,i didnt make the video i found it and shared it with everyone:)i just wanted to share something i found with my fellow hunters.

RE: Homemade Lighted Nock review (w/ pictures)
 

Good post, buddy... You may inspire me to tinker with some of these after the season.

RE: Homemade Lighted Nock review (w/ pictures)
 

r33h, I don't know how much they weigh since I am still in the process of getting some more tools for my archery shop downstairs. One of those tools is a digital scale. I know the Lumenoks weigh over 20 grains. I am assuming it is safe to say, depending on the nock you use to build your lighted nock you are looking in the same range, 20-25 grain.

I also went downstairs and shot them again today just to make sure the arrow flight wasn't affected too much. At 15 yards I don't see much change. Does this mean down range I might see some problems? Who knows? I am going to shoot them before I use them on live deer. If they aren't going to work with the current setup without changing stuff, ohh well, I will get them ready for next year.

Mike from Texas, I like the idea of the dowel rods but I just use old nocks I have either chipped or broken. The internals are usually still good on these nocks unless you Robinhood them. Then they become an obliterated mess. Otherwise, you can finally put them too good use. I don'ttrust even a nick in my nocks (future Bowhunting Dr. Seuss poem), call me paranoid, but a$.30nock is a minimal price topay to remain safe. So I am glad I have another use for busted ones.

Lunker hunter, thanks for the clarification. And thanks for posting the link anyways!!

Greg, just trying to keep pace with your expert reviews. ;) All kidding aside, hopefully it will save some guys from buying Lumenoks. Lumenoks and store bought lighted nocksare nice, but the price is just a little extreme for something you can make at a fraction of the cost.

RE: Homemade Lighted Nock review (w/ pictures)
 

No problem im glad you guys are enjoying it,i didnt want to take credit for something i didnt do.keep us posted on how they work,also at cabelas they have different colors.Im sure if you ask your local dealer he can get them.








[/align]The replacement light battery is a one piece unit designed for use in the Nite-Brite bobber.
Colors: Red, Green, Yellow. [/align]

RE: Homemade Lighted Nock review (w/ pictures)
 

Very cool Bols, nice job.

I shoot ACC's..I'm out of luck when it comes to lighted nocks...

RE: Homemade Lighted Nock review (w/ pictures)
 

I shot my homemade nocks with broadheads with absolutely no arrow flight problems out to 30 yds same as regular nock. Lets get real is 20 grains really gonna make a difference to most of us guys maybe the ones shooting 1" groups at 30 yds and those are few and far between. In summary I dont notice different flight with homemade nock or regular nock.

RE: Homemade Lighted Nock review (w/ pictures)
 

Thats good to hear matt068,maybe someone should make a small video clip of them in action(just a thought)

RE: Homemade Lighted Nock review (w/ pictures)
 

where are yall getting the actual light thing? I went to dicks and wally world and couldn't find aything. also what is the exact name on the pacckage or if someone could post a pic of the package that would be awsome

RE: Homemade Lighted Nock review (w/ pictures)
 

Here you go Buddy http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/product/standard-item.jsp;jsessionid=WY24ZK3EDDLFICWQNWRCCOQK0BW0GI WE?_DARGS=/cabelas/en/common/catalog/item-link.jsp_A&_DAV=&id=0011798115124a&nav Count=0&podId=0011798&parentId=&master pathid=&navAction=push&catalogCode=IG& rid=&parentType=&indexId=&cmCat=netcon &cm_ven=netcon&cm_cat=gravitystream.com&am p;cm_pla=&cm_ite=netcon&hasJS=true&_re questid=27650

RE: Homemade Lighted Nock review (w/ pictures)
 

There are two companies I have used to make these nocks.

The major brand was Thill.

The other brand was Rod n Bobb's Beacon.

I found mine at Gander Moutain in the fishing department, alongside the bobbers.

Hope this helps.

Bols

RE: Homemade Lighted Nock review (w/ pictures)
 

Damn, I was in bps for hours today and totally forgot to look. I was too busy foaming at the mouth the whole time. [&:]

RE: Homemade Lighted Nock review (w/ pictures)
 

Dicks has the red and green Thill lights in the fishing section.
I could not find them at first, when I asked about them the guy behind the counter showed me where they were. He also said I was the 4th or 5th person looking for them.

RE: Homemade Lighted Nock review (w/ pictures)
 

will they work in the easton axis full metal jackets rob similar to the acc?????? i would like to do this but dont want to mess up the arrow

RE: Homemade Lighted Nock review (w/ pictures)
 

You won't necessarily mess up the arrow because you will quickly know if it will work or not long before placing the nock inside the shaft. Where you will first finda problem is when you try and fit the Thill light into the inside of the nock.

I believe the inside diameter of the nock for the FMJ's will be a touch too small.

If you are able tobuy one Thill light (theymight have them at Wal-Mart, I just bought two more there the other night), you can test fit the light into the nock. I am assuming it will be too tight. The onlyother option would be to drill out the inside of the nock with a 5/32nd drill bit. Justbe careful when drilling the nock. Don't drill beyond the shaft of the nock either.

I am looking at the Easton website, the "X" nock, which is recommended for use with the FMJ'sjust appears to be too small in diameter. You could try thedrillnonetheless.

Overall, the worse thing that could happen would either be you can't use the$3.00 light (I know they will fit nocks for your Gold Tip XT shafts)or you ruin a nock.

Hope this helps,
Bols

RE: Homemade Lighted Nock review (w/ pictures)
 

Thank's Bol's ,I'm going to try making some of my own now .

nubo

RE: Homemade Lighted Nock review (w/ pictures)
 

thanks they are to small and i wont be using the xts anymore for hunting just the FMJs so i guess it wont help me out any[:'(]

RE: Homemade Lighted Nock review (w/ pictures)
 

No you're not Rob, they are easy to make for A/C/Cs and you get to keep your uni-bushing/g-nock setup. You will have to remove your uni-bushing to install the dowel, then just reinstall it with hot melt. The Thill light will slip right downthrough the uni-bushing

RE: Homemade Lighted Nock review (w/ pictures)
 

I built my home made lighted knocks tonight. I weighed my other knocks that I have been using, the ones that use the tiny allen screw to tighten them, and they were 16.5 grains. I also weighed the homemade lighted knocks and including the 1/4" x 1/4" tube that I put in the shaft, instead of wooden dowel, and they weigh right at 25 grains. SO a total of 8.5 grains of difference.
This wasa very easy project, and I won't be paying $10 a pop for the factory lighted knocks any more. Very cool little add on to my archery gear!:)

RE: Homemade Lighted Nock review (w/ pictures)
 

well, I was excited to try and make some of these lighted nocks. I went to gander mtn and found a generic thill light for 1.97. bought one of them and 2 thills to try out. I had absolutely no success in making all 3 of them. problems I encountered were the light was very finicky once glued into the nock. sometimes it would light up and sometimes not. almost like it had a loose contact. I took them out of the arrows and played with them but found them to be useless. On my last attempt out of 3 I ended up glueing the darn light to the nock. I am out 10.00 and still without a lighted nock to show for it. They ain't as easy as the video makes it out to be IMO. I was using the goldtip nocks. Nice instructional video and I am not bashing it but just wanted to caution others it wasn't easy for me. If I see something done I can usually replicate it but for some reason I couldn't on this project. Thanks for the video as I wouldn't have even tried to make them without it. P.S. I think someone else stated this but the red light was muccchhh brighter than the green IMO.

RE: Homemade Lighted Nock review (w/ pictures)
 

I have done this for the past two years with the thill ones. Work great. At close distance there is little difference. i was shooting an elite archery E-500 with a 365 grain arrow at 328 f.p.s and on the 3-D range we had a bedded buck at 47 yards. I'd use my 50 yard pin and hold right on the 12 ring and nail it every time with that lighted knock. that'd give the other guys something to aim at. That was my favorite shot on the course. for some reason I'd hit dead on every time, confidence I guess? A loss of 3 yards at 50 is'nt too bad in my opinion. Now having said this: at 80 yards, I was holding my 100 yard pin just a little on thecold side.....

RE: Homemade Lighted Nock review (w/ pictures)
 

Well im glad they have worked out for you as well as they have,Keep having fun and be safe.

I tried making some of these and once the glue dried the light didnt turn on.... Anyone have a solution?

You have to put a slight amount of glue on the edge of the light only. Here's the link to the video again, just in case someone has missed it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMqLT...search=archery