For all you beginning whistle makers who might be without a lathe. I just figured out how to bring down a dowel to the right size to cut a fipple block. Drill into the end of a short piece of dowel. Leave the bit in the dowel piece. Hold down a hand drill on your work table with one hand. Run the drill so the dowel spins and hold course sandpaper around it with the other hand. Keep checking the fit of the dowel in the fipple.
Dan, you do seem to have the whistle making bug. 
Bravo!
Necessity is the mother of invention! One suggestion I would make is to “clamp” the hand drill down to a work table. That leaves both hands free and gives you a bit more control over the sanding. If you are making high whistles where the bore is 1/2" or less you can stick the dowel right into the chuck of a hand drill (with a 1/2" chuck, of course). You just have to cut it to length after you get it down to the correct diameter. I think several folks have described using that method here. I did that on my first few whistles too.
Larger diameter plugs might require a different solution. I might suggest casting them from resin or using poly-clay in a mold made from the tubing you are using.
There are a couple of budget lathe fixtures on the market which are a step up from what you have invented. They also use a hand drill as the drive motor, a variable speed drill would be nice. These provide clamps to hold the drill. They provide a simple lathe bed, a drive center, a tailstock and toolpost too. These are inexpensive too, under $50. Here’s just one example.
http://www.grizzly.com/products/Hobby-Lathe/H2669
You can probably find them for less at the discount tool import companies. I am sure these came about from someone doing exactly what you are doing.
Feadoggie
Thanks, Dan - a great help. I shall have to do as feadoggie suggests and use the pillar drill, as I can’t hold it and sand at the same time! Pathetic, huh? I can assure you my fingers will confirm this - they are very scarred and bruised since I started making whistles! Could you do this with Delrin too? Presumably so - I use Delrin for my blocks as I don’t like the feel or taste of the dowel I was using, and I’ve found a cheap supplier here in the UK. The suggestion of just putting the block material straight in the chuck sounds great and I shall try that too. Thank you both.
Oh, I was going to mention this option too, but I thought a drill press solution might seem a bit down the road so…
http://www.pennstateind.com/store/dplathe.html
This turns your drill press into a light-duty lathe. They are available from a number of suppliers. Very inexpensive too. It looks as if a DIY version might be doable as well. Never used one myself but it has to beat sticking a dowel in a hand drill.
Delrin certainly sands well but you won’t make headway as fast on delrin as you could on some types of wood. Remember when you are sanding the stuff to wear a dust mask. You do not want the dust getting into your lungs.
Feadoggie
I did this with 1/2" cpvc rod. Took about 5 minutes to make a basic fit.
Would that work for enlarging the bore of a pvc or cpvc pipe to fit a brass tube, or would it only work for tooling down the outside?
To enlarge the bore using a lathe, a steady rest is needed to hold the end of the tube, and the other end needs to be secured to the headstock.
To enlarge the end of a tube using a drill with a split rod holding sand paper, generaly results in an oval or egg shaped hole. Depending on what the bore is being enlarged for it may be ok to hold a brass tube in it.
Yes, CPVC rod is a little easier to work with than delrin but the results are the similar if you take care. It is not as resistant to heat as delrin so it can melt as you work it. It’s also less expensive and easier to find. I think it’s a good plug material choice on CPVC whistles and one that is often overlooked in favor of the more often discussed delrin/acetal.
Tommy beat me to it on that one. Take a look at the site below. It may give you some more ideas.
http://users.skynet.be/fluiten/how.html
Feadoggie
Thanks. I should have been more specific in my question. I’m trying to understand if this is possible with the “Grizzly Hobby Lathe.” Is one end designed to be moveable during use so that boring is possible?
Looking at the pictures of the Grizzly hobby lathe, both ends are movable the head (motor end) and the tail stock. It has no steady rest but one could be made. The tail stock might be altered to use as a guide to hold the boring bar. Straight out of the box I would say no to boring with the Grizzly hobby lathe.
I have brought up an old post of a lathe that I made. The title is whistle making effort & 1st lathe.
Dan, I agree with Tommy. Boring operations on that Grizzly hobby lathe wouldn’t be easy. I was really only suggesting the hobby lathe as a glorified way of doing what you have already described with your hand drill. It might be a useful step for making plugs and for doing some exterior profiling.
Feadoggie
Thanks to all for your responses. This forum is great.
Is there any difference in heat resistance between CPVC and PVC?
Thanks for that pointer Feadoggie, it was very interesting.
I am assuming we are talking about CPVC and PVC plumbing products - pipe and assorted connectors. These products are all rated to work within documented temperature ranges and those can be found on product spec sheets on the websites of the pipe manufacturers. The white PVC plumbing pruducts I have used are intended for cold water use. They can be rated at different temperatures, usually related to the wall thickness of the pipe (casual observation). That PVC deforms/melts more readily than CPVC pipe which is rated for use with hot water. If you are asking about the posibillities for heat forming, yeah it is possible. It’s been done.
You’re welcome. That site is a good visual reference to the whole flute making process, well one maker’s process anyway. There are a few more visual references out there but not quite as complete as that one.
Feadoggie
You can gray PVC stock from http://www.usplastics.com, it’s a fairly inexpensive material. They also have Acetal - the generic for Delrin.
One of the bad things about sanding down delrin is that it fills up the sandpaper quite fast.