I have read the forum and looked at many web-sites and I keep reading about how the oscillating pad machines "Oscillate" and what a big difference that makes compared to regular "Floor buffers" that simply spin at about 175rpm. I have looked closely at every picture of an oscillating pad machine that I could fid and the OP machines look just like floor buffers to me. Can someone please explain to me what makes oscillating pad machines oscillate that is what makes the OP machines function differently than a regular old floor buffer? Sorry to ask what is probably such a silly question to those of you who know about the OP machines but I can't figure this out. Thanks for the help.

I have to rely on what I have learned from an automobile paint/body professional. They use a machine normally called a DA (Dual Action) sander to prep the surface. It has a fast random orbit movement and a slow spin. Hold your index finger out and with the other hand lighltly touch the top of the big knuckle and move it ramdomly on a steady plane. That is random orbital movement. Then, if you can, also move the orbiting hand in a slow circle. That is a dual action. With a DA it is still possible to dig deeper into one portion of the surface than another by leaning more in one direction, but if you hold it as level as you can with the surface you are sanding it is much less likely than with a machine that is only spinning. A floor buffer only spins. The Challenger gives you the DA movement. It is somewhat different with carpet, not so solid a surface as sheet metal. The fibers are 'vibrated' and rapidly moved in multiple directions while the rotation scrubs all the different angles of the carpet exposed by the random orbit. Reuslts: carpet fiber cleaned from every angle. A constant spin will lay the fibers in one direction, the DA movement will expose many angles of the the fibers. That is my mental picture and the results I see assure me the carpet fibers are cleaned on all sides, not only the side exposed by a spinning movement. I might be wrong here, maybe with the Challenger there is only the random orbit which happens so fast it looks like it is also spinning, but either way the machine makes damaging carpet far less likely and the cleaning far more thorough. You're not spinning a whole in it you're 'vibrating' it as you steadily scrub. More like the action of manual scrubbing. You always have to scub, even when using vapor steam (we ain't talking HWE here), but it sure is nice not to have to get on your knees and do it all by hand, especially when age is catching up with you.
PS: To do the job well you still have to get on your knees sometimes and manually scrub.

Gary has about said it all. The Challenger is RANDOM orbital. Each little scrubbing orbit, or ellipse, is about an inch in size, scrubbing (tamping) at 1750 RPM. There is also rotary motion of about 100 RPM. Fixed-orbit machines, like what are called SquareBuff floor sanders, don't have the rotary component, which is what enables random orbits to scrub "every which way but loose".

Thanks for trying to help but I what I still do not understand is what makes the oscillating pad machine oscillate. Is there some sort of gearbox or something that makes the oscillating motion? What type of maintenance does the mechanism that creates the oscillating require? Does it last? Is it expensive to replace? These are the types of questions I still have. It's silly but I just do not know anything about what makes the Challenger OP machine (or other OP machines) "oscillate". Thanks again for the help.

I can tell you that the shaft is offset, or off-center. Because there is always "a whole lot of shaking goin' on) an OP machine of inferior design and construction will be a constant headache. It will literally be shaking itself apart every time it is being operated. This was my continuing experience with the Oreck LowBoy OP machines that I used to use. My experience with my Challengers has been just the opposite. The engineering design is of a high level, and parts are not constantly flying off (never fly off, actually) Send an e-mail to Lee Watson, the manufacturer of the Challenger, for a more complete description of its design.

Lee's e-mail address is contact@challengerop.com.