outboard turning???

[DCM]

I've never turned outboard & curious as to opinions about how safe, etc. it is. I'm going to get a Robust AB & trying to decide what options or accessories I get with it. Robust makes an outboard rig for the AB. I do have some large blanks in my wood stash & may want to try something larger than the 25". Do yall have experience or opinion about this?
Thanks!

[AHill]

You shouldn't have any problems with your Robust. It's all about how secure your blank is and how stable the lathe is. The AB is a pretty substantial hunk of metal with plenty of weight to handle out-of-balance blanks. Just keep the RPMs slow until you've got it roughed out. I have a Nova DVR and I've done 16" outboard with no problems. My DVR is way less weight than your AB will be.

[badwhiskey]

What Allan said. When I can, I rough between centers and then go outboard. When you are outboard you won't be in the line of fire.

[DCM]

Has anyone made their own outboard tool rest? Robust makes one & I'm sure it is very nice but not cheap. I see Powermatic makes one that is independent of the lathe - is that as good as being connected?
Thanks

[czarcastic]

I considered the outboard as well when I got my AB. It's pretty tempting.
But I decided to wait and turn some pieces as large in Diameter as the AB can swing - 25" - and really reconsidered. 25 inch diameter is pretty freaking huge and intimidating when its spinning, no matter how experienced a turner you may be. There's a HUGE increase in wood mass between the 16" I was turning before and the 25" I can turn on the AB, and once I got some pieces spinning that large, it was MORE than enough to convince me to stop there.

My own experience was to think about how often I would really need/want to turn something larger than 25 inches, and found for my own work, that I could live without it.

That said, enjoy your new AB. It's an amazing piece of machinery that you will truly love.

[robo hippy]

Outboard turning is turning off the back/headstock end of the lathe. With the AB, since it has a sliding headstock, you slide it down and turn off the other end, small technical difference. You can make your own floor mounted tool rest post and banjo type thing or buy a number of different ones. Personally, given size of pieces that you would do outboard, I would reserve that for turning round table tops, and not huge slabs of wood.

robo hippy

[Angus]

In my opinion large turnings are something everyone wants to try to test their limits. After you do a few most turners are over it. If you plan on selling the market is real small for anything bigger than 16" (salad bowl size). Not many cabinets can hold anything over 16" so that means dedicated counter space. Even if you go from user to art the larger size reduces display options.

I guess it depends on how deep your pockets are and do you want to spend that kind of money for a few huge pieces.

[DCM]

I'm sure 99+% of the stuff I'll do is well within the capacity of the AB. I was just curios. I think I'll do without the outboard rig. + I don't have money to throw away. This is my dream lathe & want to make sure I get the best setup for me.

For anyone with an AB, do you use a hollowing rig & if so do you find the std bed length adequate? I'd rather save money on bed length (as well as floor space ).

Thanks a bunch for all the advice & in site
David

[robo hippy]

I don't do much hollowing, but plan on doing more. I have the extended bed. I don't think it would be difficult to make a floor mount to hold the handle part of a captured hollowing system though.

robo hippy

[Grey Mountain]

When I got my Oneway 2436, I also got the outboard accessories for a considerable hunk of money. I have the capacity to turn a 44" diameter bowl - 88" if I take off the banjo and use a free-standing toolrest.
I have used it once since I got the lathe several years ago.

GM