Drill Bit (well)

A Drill bit, is a device attached to the end of the drill string that breaks apart, cuts or crushes the rock formations when drilling a wellbore, such as those drilled to extract water, gas, or oil.

The drill bit is hollow and has jets to allow for the expulsion of the drilling fluid, or "mud", at high velocity and high pressure to help clean the bit and, for softer formations, help to break apart the rock. A tricone bit comprises three conical rollers with teeth made of a hard material, such as tungsten carbide. The teeth break rock by crushing as the rollers move around the bottom of the borehole. A polycrystalline diamond compact (PDC) bit has no moving parts and works by scraping the rock surface with disk-shaped teeth made of a slug of synthetic diamond attached to a tungsten carbide cylinder.

The tricone bit is an improvement on the original bit patented in 1909 by Howard R. Hughes, Sr. of Houston, Texas, father of the famed billionaire Howard R. Hughes, Jr..

PDC bits, first came into widespread use in 1976, used for gas and oil exploration the North Sea. They are effective at drilling shale formations, especially when used in combination with oil-base drilling muds.


  • Typical tri-cone rock bit

  • Tricone rock bit (medium worn-out)

  • PDC bit for well drilling

  • Multiple Tricone (carbide) insert Bits

  • Tricone (carbide) insert Bit

  • Tricone rock Bit

  • Damaged Drill Bit, broken carbide inserts

Famous quotes containing the words drill and/or bit:

    Swift blazing flag of the regiment,
    Eagle with crest of red and gold,
    These men were born to drill and die.
    Point for them the virtue of slaughter,
    Make plain to them the excellence of killing
    And a field where a thousand corpses lie.
    Stephen Crane (1871–1900)

    ... I suppose that it is not so easy to go home and it takes a bit of time to make a son out of a stranger.
    Albert Camus (1913–1960)