Afghan lathe - drill clamp?

The documentation on the Afghan lathe mentions using a "drill bench clamp". These are difficult to find seemingly. Any ideas as to where to find them?

try here, maybe refine your search terms
[www.maximum-velocity.com]

In the United States those are typically called a "drill mount"
Just about every home improvement store carries them, usually with the hand drill accessories.
Sometimes the mount is packaged with a grinding wheel attachment or a sanding attachment.

Or you can make your own with a regular 2x4, a "C" clamp and some heavy zip ties (maybe even duct tape :-) )
Anything that will hold will the drill stable and in a fixed position will work.

Cool. Thanks for the pointers.

I was thinking ...

I'm probably not going to be able to turn a brass or aluminium rod with this setup, am I?

It might not be worth my while doing this if that's the case - since my original thought was to use it to build my hot-end. And I was hoping to turn the nozzle as well as the insulating (PTFE/PEEK) rod.

I welcome clarification on this. i.e. an Afghan lathe couldn't be used to turn even soft metals, could it?

It's perfectly possible. There is a limit on length (the length of your drill bit), but the whole point of a lathe is that it spins the work not the drill bit, so the drill bit self-centres; you can get away with quite poor quality electric hand drills/chucks. It usually depends on the quality of your drill bits how easily it cuts. I made my own hot end using the same technique, but with a bench press drill and a spare chuck - see [www.thingiverse.com]
For an even better cutting experience, if you can rig up two electric drills opposing each other, spinning both the work AND the drill bit (in opposite directions) apparently improves the self-centreing accuracy even more.
One tip: if you remove the item you are drilling from the chuck (to inspect/measure), make sure you put it back in in the same place - mark the chuck and the work with a line, and re-align with this when you put it back in. That way, if your chuck runs slightly eccentrically, you won't be putting it back in a different place each time. I had this problem and broke 2 drills before realising! I was able to drill a 0.5mm nozzle in an acorn nut too, without breaking the drill.

Also, if you want to drill/lathe PEEK/PTFE, a standard chuck will only hold material up to a diameter of around 10mm. Larger hand drills and bench press drills usually go up to 13mm - check before buying PEEK/PTFE rod.

Hi droft. I appreciate the info. I would just like to clarify though ...

As far as I can discern, you (and others) are using this setup primarily to drill holes in the nozzle. Is that correct? The thing is ... I was hoping to use it for something different. I was wondering if it would be feasible to use a chisel with this setup - i.e. to decrease the diameter of the rod (whether it be PTFE, brass, etc.). So, while you have been using a drill bit in line with the rod, I would be holding some sort of chisel at right angles to the axis of rotation.

My guess is that the shearing forces experienced by the piece would be excessive - and that the chuck and/or bearings within the drill would not be suitable. I welcome correction though. (It would be a while before I get around to actually testing this - due to college etc..)

You can use the set up to decrease the diameter of a rod or make a complex shaped part, just like a metal lathe.
It will damage the drill bearings, but I've reduced and chamfered over 100 shafts with a cheap drill set up like this
and I haven't noticed the bearings going out yet.
I wouldn't "lathe" with my drill press or some of my more expensive hand drills, but I'll do it with a cheap second
drill.

To reduce a shaft down with this type of setup I use files instead of chisels. Hand drills don't have the torque to
really use a chisel against metal.

Hi Cris. That's exactly the information I was looking for - thanks.

It seems to work with a wooden rod anyway - even without the drill mount (just using cable ties like you suggested). I haven't tested this on PTFE or brass rod yet, coz my chuck is the smaller (3/8") type I think.

I would expect a chisel to work on wood and plastic. It might work on brass. I doubt it will work on aluminum or steel.
A cheap file and a hacksaw blade will definitely work on the harder materials. Old router bits, that you don't mind destroying,
will also work.

I put bolts for hobbing in my drill press, and use hacksaws and files to make an indentation to speed up hobbing with a M3.5 tap. I find it's good to lubricate cutting surfaces when doing this, especially hobbing; it cuts much faster and cleaner. I use good old 3-in-1 oil, not sure if it's available world-wide or just here in the UK, but it's basically a fairly light penetrating oil, like you'd use on bicycle chain. Again, there's no reason that this wouldn't work with a hand drill, but the pressure you need to exert on the work means it does need to be very solidly mounted. I haven't tried using chisels on metal; might work for aluminium and brass. But I expect lathe tools would work better, and you'll want a solid fence close to any work to rest them on.