Process of making a bit body and mold therefor
AssigneeBaker Hughes Incorporated
InventorMatthias Meister
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method of fabricating a resilient model of an article of manufacture, such as an earth-boring drill bit body or component thereof, including fabricating the resilient model of the article of manufacture by layered manufacturing techniques. The resilient model may then be employed to cast one or more molds from refractory material. The molds may be used to fabricate the modeled article of manufacture. The invention also includes a resilient, layer-manufactured model of an article of manufacture, such as an earth-boring drill bit.
Claims40
A method of fabricating a mold for a bit body of an earth-boring drill bit, comprising:
- fabricating a substantially hollow, resilient model of the bit body as a plurality of mutually contiguous at least partially superimposed layers using a layered manufacturing process said resilient model substantially representing a periphery of the bit body;
- applying a refractory mold material to at least some external surfaces of said resilient model;
- and
- hardening said refractory mold material to form the mold.
A method of fabricating a mold for an article of manufacture, comprising:
- fabricating a substantially hollow, resilient model of the article of manufacture as a plurality of mutually contiguous, at least partially superimposed layers using a layered manufacturing process, said resilient model substantially conforming in configuration and size to a periphery of the article of manufacture;
- applying a refractory mold material to external surfaces of said resilient model;
- and
- hardening said refractory mold material to form the mold.
A method of fabricating an earth-boring drill bit, comprising:
- fabricating a substantially hollow, resilient model of a bit body of the earth-boring drill bit as a plurality of mutually contiguous, at least partially superimposed layers using a layered manufacturing process, said resilient model substantially representing a periphery of the bit body;
- forming a mold with said resilient model by applying a refractory mold material to external surfaces of said resilient model and hardening said refractory mold material;
- removing said resilient model from said mold;
- and
- disposing at least one material into at least one cavity of said mold to form a bit body substantially corresponding in configuration and size to said resilient model.
A method of fabricating an article of manufacture, comprising:
- fabricating a substantially hollow, resilient model of at least one component of the article of manufacture as a plurality of mutually contiguous, at least partially superimposed layers using a layered manufacturing process, said resilient model substantially conforming in configuration and size to a periphery of the at least one component of the article of manufacture;
- forming a mold with said resilient model by applying a refractory mold material to external surfaces of said resilient model and hardening said refractory mold material;
- removing said resilient model from said mold;
- and
- disposing at least one material into a cavity of said mold to form a bit body substantially corresponding in configuration and size to said resilient model.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.