Outboard Turning?? Stand? Safety?

At my local supply house, one of the "master turners" has warned against doing any outboard turning--as a matter purely of safety. I have a General 160 and have the capability to do outboard turning, but I do not have a stand. I would like to do some larger diameter projects so the outboard turning is very appealing.

A few questions...as long as I reverse the direction of the spin (to prevent faceplate from backing off), can outboard turning be done safely?
What is a good outboard stand/tool rest to purchase?

Thanks.

Chris, I turn outboard on my lathe all the time, and that's on the opposite side of the headstock from the tailstock. I have a toolrest that mounts on a bed extension.
However, the "master turner" may be referring to turning outboard on a lathe with a swiveling headstock... where you're turning on the front, outside of the bed. Or on a Lathe that cannot have a bed extension mounted on the "left" of the headstock. On either of those lathes, you need an outboard toolrest... one that attaches to the lathe to be truly safe.

Gotcha.
The ones he was likely referring to was a toolrest stand being unsafe.....I had an old one that is like a heavy duty tripod (weighs 100+ lbs)

I will look into something that mounts to my lathe.
Any ideas where a guy could find one for a General 160 circa 1993?

I have no idea, Chris. But, I think Steve Antonucci built one using a pipe nipple of the appropriate size to fit in the toolrest base, elbowed it off and had a long piece of pipe stuck through a hole in a two by four that rested on the floor. I'm not sure if he had the 2x mounted on a base of some kind or not. Maybe this will give you an idea of making one that will attach to your lathe someway.
Another idea: A large plow disc for the base. Come up from it with a Pipe floor flange, an appropriate length of pipe, a Tee located about a foot off the floor, another piece of pipe rising from that tee to the right height for your toolrest, drilled and tapped for a set/screw/knob.
From the tee that's down near the floor, put a piece of pipe that mounts onto another floor flange attached to your lathe.
Confused? Draw it out as explained.
HTH!. :)

Mine looks like this.

Mike

can't see the pic/file. Windows isn't recognizing an .skp file extension.


Edit: got it; google sketch up file. I'm downloading the viewer as I write.