16.09.

2020
 Drilling Bits
A piece of equipment with sharp edges attached to the lower end of the drill string and
has function to crush, scrape, or grind away formation

1. Drag bits
2. Rolling cutter bits (rock bits / tri cone bits)
3. Varieties / specialized versions of these bits:
a. Mill tooth / Junk bit
b. Eccentric bit and Bi-center bit
c. Under-reamer
d. Hole openers
e. Coring bit
f. Impregnated bit
Drill bits can be grouped into two basic categories:

❑ Roller Cone Bits

❑ Fixed Cutter Bits

Roller Cone Bit Fixed

Cutter Bit
 Main components

Numbering of the cones follows a similar procedure as

numbering blades on PDC bits. In roller cone bits, the cone with
the teeth closest to the bit center is cone number 1, and the
second-most teeth closest to the bit is cone number 2, and so on.
The tooth on the PDC bit is called cutter
The arrangement of cutters in each blade
often has a specific reference – inner and
outer rows
The gauge is the area with full OD
Roller Cone Bits

Roller Cutter Bits have their cutting elements arranged on steel

cones, which rotate on bearings as the drill string turns the bit body.
They come in two basic types:

❑ Milled Steel Tooth Bits

❑ Insert Bits (Button Bits)

A Milled Steel Tooth Bit consists of cutting elements that are

fabricated as part of the cones.

Milled Steel Tooth Bit

Roller Cone Bits
An insert or “button” bit consists of separate cutting elements, pressed into specially
machined holes in the cone.

Insert Bit
Fixed Cutter Bits

On a Fixed Cutter Bit, the cutting elements are implanted directly in

the bit body and rotate around the axis formed by the center line of
the drill string. They are divided into following categories:

❑ Steel Cutter Bits (Fishtail Bits)

❑ Natural Diamond Bits

❑ PDC (Polycrystalline Diamond Compact) Bits

“Fishtail” bits still may see limited use in soft, unconsolidated

formations.

Steel Cutter Bit

Fixed Cutter Bits
Today, the most widely used fixed cutter bits are PDC Bits and Natural Diamond Bits

PDC Bit Natural Diamond Bit

Bit Hydraulics

Roller Cone Bits and PDC Bits are designed to

accommodate nozzles of varying diameters. Drilling
fluid passes through these nozzles at high velocity to
clean the bit’s cutting elements and remove drilled
formation particles from the bottom of the hole.
Flat-Bottom Bits
Flat-Bottom Bits are sometimes used in air or gas drilling with air hammers. These tool combinations are
employed in extremely hard formations to allow for fast drilling with low weight on bit.

They are also used to drill horizontal holes where limited weight on bit is available

Flat-Bottom Bit Air Hammer and Flat-Bottom Bit

Roller Cone Bit Design

The type of cutting action that prevails on a roller cone bit is determined by:

❑ Bit Geometry

❑ Cutting Elements

❑ Bearings

The geometric design features which that determine cutting action are the journal angle and the offset .
Bit design
Roller Cone Bit Design

✓The journal angle is the angle formed by

intersection of a line perpendicular to the axis of the
journal (the bearing portion of the bit leg) and the
center line of the bit.

✓Soft formation bits have smaller journal angles

than hard formation bits. For example, a soft or
medium formation bit may have a journal angle of
32.5°, while a hard formation bit may have a
journal angle of 36°.
Roller Cone Bit Design
Offset is the horizontal distance between the center line of the bit and a vertical plane through the center
line of the journal. Soft formation bits generally have offsets that are considerably larger than those of
hard formation bits.
Roller Cone Bit Design

▪Milled steel tooth cutters are an integral part of the bit cone. Their design
parameters include shape, spacing and positioning on the cone.

▪Soft formation bits have long, relatively thin teeth that are spaced widely
apart on the cone.

Soft Formation Bit

Roller Cone Bit Design

•Long, widely spaced teeth promote a cutting action that results in

high penetration rates with minimal weight on bit, but at the same
time are especially susceptible to breakage in harder rocks. Hard
formation bits therefore have shorter, smaller, more closely spaced
teeth.

Hard Formation Bit

Roller Cone Bit Design

There are three basic, commonly-used bearing

structures:

❑ Roller-Ball-Friction

❑ Roller-Ball-Roller

❑ Friction-Ball-Friction

A standard roller-ball-friction assembly

consists of roller bearings in the main bearing,
ball bearings and a friction bearings in the
nose.

Roller-Ball-Roller Bearing
 Roller Cone Bit Design
A roller-ball-roller assembly consists of roller bearings in the main bearing, ball bearings in
the middle and roller bearings in the nose area.

A friction-ball-friction assembly, consists of a friction bearing in the main bearing area, ball
bearings on the middle and a friction bearing in the nose.

Roller-Ball-Roller Bearing Friction-Ball-friction Bearing

REFERENCES
1. "Practical demonstration of square-hole bit, YouTube video". Youtube.com.
2. Todd, Robert H.; Allen, Dell K.; Alting, Leo (1994), Manufacturing Processes
Reference Guide, Industrial Press Inc., pp. 43–48, ISBN 0-8311-3049-0.
3. Jump up to:a b . Swan et al (September 7, 2018). "Tool Wear of Advanced
Coated Tools in Drilling of CFRP111018.
4. Nguyen, Dinh et al "Tool Wear of Superhard Ceramic Coated Tools in
Drilling of CFRP/Ti stacks." Proceedings of the ASME 2019 14th International
Manufacturing Science and Engineering Conference. Volume 2: Processes;
Materials. Erie, Pennsylvania, USA. June 10–14, 2019. V002T03A089. ASME.
5. Nguyen, Dinh et al "Tool Wear of Superhard Ceramic Coated Tools in
Drilling of CFRP/Ti Stacks." Proceedings of the ASME 2019 14th International
Manufacturing Science and Engineering Conference. Volume 2: Processes;
Materials. Erie, Pennsylvania, USA. June 10–14, 2019. V002T03A089.
ASME. https://doi.org/10.1115/MSEC2019-2843
6. Modern machinery, 5, Modern Machining Publishing Company, 1899, p. 68.
7. Stephen Ambrose Morse US patent 38,119 Improvement in Drill-Bits. Twist
Drill Bit,