I don't use my hand wheel on my Bernina unless I have a next of threads jamming the machine.

In a 4-H group project, one of the girls would roll the wheel away from her, then rapidly toward her, similar to contestants on Wheel of Fortune. The adult helping her did not notice, but I did, especially when I had to pick out all those nests and help replace the long strips of ribbon and binding sewn down.

The only machines I know of that run the other way (wheel turned away from you) have external motors with a rubber tire that runs right against the hand wheel.

As far as I know, all modern machines turn towards you, and all of the vintage machines I've seen with a belt or an internal motor have also turned towards the user.

Yes, turning it both ways can be a real hazard to some machines. You can disrupt the timimg doing so, and create a large repair bill. Put your fingers on top of the wheel, and your thumb at the bottom, and turn so your fingers move toward your face, and your thump towards the back. Better safe than sorry.

The only one of mine that the hand wheel turns away from me is my vintage Sew Handy.

Me too! I often unstitch the last stitch using the handle wheel backward if I've overshot the target and want a specific placement, then reinsert the needle using the hand wheel forward. Hasn't caused any issues for me.

I was told by my sewing machine repairman that on the Featherweights you only turn the wheel towards you. He said that you can really mess up the Featherweight turning it backwards. However, having said that, on occasion I have pushed the wheel away from me an inch or so and not had a problem. You know how you do when you are trying to get the sewing machine needle in just the right spot -- you move it back and forth a little.