DOWNHOLE ROTARY CUTTING TOOL

摘要

A rotary cutting tool, which may be a reamer for enlarging an underground borehole or a mill to remove tubing by cutting into the inside wall of the tubing, has a plurality of cutter assemblies distributed azimuthally around a longitudinal axis of the tool, wherein each cutter assembly includes a supporting structure bearing a sequence of cutters which extends axially along the tool with leading surfaces facing in a direction of rotation of the tool. The cutters of each sequence are positioned at a plurality of circumferential positions such that no more than three cutters of the sequence are aligned on any line parallel to the longitudinal axis of the tool. In an overlapping arrangement, a plurality of cutters in the sequence may have a leading face circumferentially behind the leading face but ahead of the trailing end of at least one other cutter.