Drill Bits

Roller Cone
TECHNICAL BULLETIN

Why Use Diamond Enhanced Products?

When drilling, it is crucial to keep the hole in gauge. The gauge

is always the toughest part of a hole to drill for two reasons;
first, there is more rock to remove per revolution of the bit and,
secondly, the confinement stresses in the rock are at a maximum
at the gauge. The gauge of a bit is always wearing and in contact
with the hole wall, whether it be from reaming undergauge hole,
washing and reaming between connections or drilling ahead. This
wear can cause an out-of-gauge hole.

Hole Diameter (Outer Most Part is Gauge Area)

Diamond Enhanced Gauge Inserts

Security Row

In addition, gauge/surf wear may substantially increase rate of seal

wear and thus reduce bit life. Application types such as directional
or horizontal drilling frequently utilize diamond enhancement; however,
any application type may benefit from use of diamond reinforcement.

Diamond Enhanced Surf Inserts (33%)

Why Would You Use Diamond Enhanced

Products?
You would first try an increase in wear-resistant carbide gauge
material, adding more gauge inserts or efficient, application specific
shapes which will decrease the wear at the gauge.

Surf Inserts

Diamond Enhanced Shirttail Inserts

Secondly, you could also increase the surf insert counts or try a
dual surf row.

Shirttail Inserts

Thirdly, security rows are another way to help reduce gauge wear,
although they are probably the least effective of the three solutions
in preventing wear.
When these methods fail you would probably try some diamond
enhanced products. Keep in mind that these components add cost
to your products and are the last resort for solving this problem.
Which Diamond Enhanced Products Do
You Try First?
You should try diamond enhanced surf inserts first. They come in
three percentage amounts (33%, 50% and 100%). Keep in mind the
costs when choosing the percentage amounts.
Then you would probably try diamond enhanced gauge inserts.
There are several shapes and sizes that your Application Design
Evaluation (ADESM) specialist could help you pick which is right for
your application. For gauge row application of diamond, percentage
applied is not varied - 100% concentration is always utilized.
Diamond enhanced gauge inserts are very wear resistant, but are
more susceptible to chipping and impact than standard carbide
gauge inserts and should be run in more abrasive than hard rock
applications. These can be used with or without diamond enhanced
surf inserts. The latest generation of diamond enhanced gauge
inserts have proven to be much tougher than in the past.

EXAMPLE OF DEI NOMENCLATURE

QH30DS with 33% DEI surf

Q30DS

QH30DS with 50% DEI surf

Q30D2S

QH30DS with 100% DEI surf

Q30D3S

EXAMPLE OF HOW DIAMOND ENHANCED PRODUCTS CAN AFFECT BIT COST

8-1/2 EQH42R

No Diamond Enhancement

1 x Base Cost

8-1/2 EQH42DR

With 33% DEI Surf

1.57 x Base Cost

8-1/2 EQHD42DR

With 33% DEI Surf and 100% DEI Gauge Rows

3.11 x Base Cost

8-1/2 EQHD42D3RD

With 100% DEI Surf, Gauge Rows and Shirttail

5.45 x Base Cost

Drill Bits

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