Claims
- 1. A side-cutting drill bit, comprising:
a drill bit body having a face portion, a shoulder portion, and a side portion, said drill bit body defining a gage diameter; at least first, second, and third gage regions on said side portion of said drill bit; wherein all of said gage pad portions, in rotated profile, overlap to form a composite profile, said composite profile including a series of overlapping cutting elements mounted on a surface not extending to substantially gage diameter and having cutting tips extending to substantially gage diameter, and said composite profile including a flat gage surface extending to substantially gage diameter, said overlapping cutting elements and said gage surface also overlapping over at least a portion of their respective lengths.
- 2. The side-cutting drill bit of claim 1, wherein said first gage region includes a first plurality of cutting elements to cut to gage diameter, said third gage pad region includes a second plurality of cutting elements to cut to gage diameter, and said second gage pad region includes a substantially flat portion extending substantially to gage diameter.
- 3. The side-cutting drill bit of claim 1, wherein said gage surface is co-extensive with said overlapping cutting elements.
- 4. The side-cutting drill bit of claim 1, wherein said gage surface has a first length and said overlapping cutting elements have a second length, said first length being longer than said second length.
- 5. The side-cutting drill bit of claim 1, wherein said gage surface has a first length and said overlapping cutting elements have a second length, said second length being longer than said first length.
- 6. The side-cutting drill bit of claim 1, wherein each of said first, second, and third gage regions are gage pads.
- 7. The side-cutting drill bit of claim 1, wherein said drill bit has at least a first blade, a second blade, and a third blade, said first gage region corresponding to said first blade, said second gage region corresponding to said second blade, and said third gage region corresponding to said third blade.
- 8. The side-cutting drill bit of claim 1, said drill bit including six blades, a fourth gage region, a fifth gage region, and a sixth gage region, three of said six gage regions including cutting elements and three of said six gage regions including wear-resistant inserts.
- 9. The side-cutting drill bit of claim 1, said drill bit including eight blades, a fourth gage region, a fifth gage region, a sixth gage region, a seventh gage region, and an eighth gage region, four of said eight gage regions including cutting elements and four of said eight gage regions including wear-resistant inserts.
- 10. The side-cutting drill bit of claim 1, wherein said gage surface is a non-cutting, flat surface along its entire length.
- 11. A drill bit, comprising:
a drill bit body having a face portion, a shoulder portion, and a side portion, said drill bit body defining a gage diameter; at least first, second, and third gage regions on said side portion of said drill bit; wherein said first gage region includes a first set of cutting elements having cutting tips extending to said gage diameter, said second gage region includes a second set of cutting elements having cutting tips extending to said gage diameter, and said third gage region being free from cutting elements and having flat surface extending to gage diameter.
- 12. The drill bit of claim 11, wherein said first and second set of cutting elements overlap to form a continuous cutting profile.
- 13. The drill bit of claim 11, further comprising fourth, fifth, and sixth gage regions, said fourth gage region including a third set of cutting elements having cutting tips extending to said gage diameter, said fifth gage region being free from cutting elements and having flat surface extending to gage diameter, and said sixth gage region being free from cutting elements and having flat surface extending to gage diameter.
- 14. The drill bit of claim 13, wherein said third, fifth, and sixth gage regions each maintain borehole diameter by rubbing formation at the sidewall of the borehole.
- 15. The drill bit of claim 13, wherein said third, fifth, and sixth gage regions each include wear-resistant inserts.
- 16. The drill bit of claim 13, wherein said first, second, and third set of cutting elements overlap to form a continuous cutting profile.
- 17. The drill bit of claim 11, wherein cutting elements on said side of said drill bit body overlap in rotated profile to form a continuous cutting profile.
- 18. The drill bit of claim 17, wherein said continuous cutting profile is as long as said first gage region.
- 19. The drill bit of claim 11, wherein said first gage region is a first gage pad, said second gage region is a second gage pad, and said third gage region is a third gage pad.
- 20. The drill bit of claim 11, further comprising fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth gage regions, said fourth gage region including a third set of cutting elements having cutting tips extending to said gage diameter, said fifth gage region being free from cutting elements and having flat surface extending to gage diameter, said sixth gage region being free from cutting elements and having a flat surface extending to gage diameter, said seventh gage region including a fourth set of cutting elements having cutting tips extending to said gage diameter, and said eighth gage region being free from cutting elements and having a flat surface extending to gage diameter.
- 21. The drill bit of claim 11, wherein said third gage region is a gage pad having wear-resistant inserts.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This is a continuation-in-part application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/368,833, filed Aug. 5, 1999 and entitled “Side Cutting Gage Pad Improving Stabilization and Borehole Integrity”.
Continuation in Parts (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09368833 |
Aug 1999 |
US |
Child |
09897580 |
Jul 2001 |
US |