Rapid manufacturing of molds for forming drill bits
AssigneeSmith International, Inc.
InventorStephen G. Southland
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A mold is formed for an building earth boring bit by designing the bit geometry in three dimensions using a computer aided design (CAD) system and then feeding the geometry data of the design to a layering device. The layering device then builds the mold a layer at a time. Materials used in building the mold include, sand, graphite, ceramic, clay, other refractory materials, plastic, rubber and wax. Once the mold is formed, powdered steel or tungsten carbide is poured into the mold and is cured by press molding or infiltrating with a binder forming a bit body. Cutting elements are then inserted in the bit body forming the earth boring bit.
Claims36
A method for making an earth boring bit having cutting elements comprising the steps of:
- determining a bit body geometry desired for drilling a specific earth formation;
- generating a computer aided design of the bit body geometry;
- employing an automated layering device for constructing a mold based on the computer aided design;
- forming a bit body in the mold having the desired geometry as a complement to the mold;
- and
- mounting cutting elements on the bit body.
A method for making an earth boring bit having cutting elements comprising the steps of:
- determining a bit body geometry desired for drilling a specific earth formation;
- generating a computer aided design of the bit body geometry;
- employing an automated layering device for constructing a wax model based on the computer aided design;
- forming a mold as a complement to the wax model;
- and
- forming a bit body having the determined geometry as a complement to the mold;
- and
- mounting cutting elements on the bit body.
A method for making an earth boring bit comprising the steps of:
- determining a bit body geometry desired for drilling the earth formation;
- generating a computer design of formers for forming a secondary mold;
- employing a layering device for constructing the formers based on the computer aided design;
- interconnecting the formers to construct a secondary mold;
- forming a primary mold as a complement to the secondary mold;
- forming a bit body having the determined geometry as a complement to the primary mold;
- and
- mounting cutting elements on the bit body.
A method for making an earth boring bit having cutting elements comprising the steps of:
- determining a bit body geometry desired for drilling a specific earth formation;
- generating a computer aided design of the bit body geometry;
- employing an automated layering device for constructing a master mold based on the computer aided design;
- forming a master bit body as a complement to the master mold;
- forming a secondary mold as complement to the master bit body;
- forming a bit body in the secondary mold having the desired geometry as a complement to the secondary mold;
- and
- mounting cutting elements on the bit body.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.