ROTARY DRILL BIT WITH GAGE PADS HAVING IMPROVED STEERABILITYAND REDUCED WEAR

摘要

A rotary drill bit having blades with gage pads disposed on exterior port ions thereof to improve steerability of the rotary drill bit during formatio n of a directional wellbore without sacrifice of lateral stability. One or m ore of the gage pads may include radially tapered exterior portions and/or c ut out portions to assist with reducing wear of the associated gage pad. For some applications, a rotary drill bit may be formed having blades with gage pads having a relatively uniform exterior surface. Hard facing material and /or buttons may be disposed on exterior portions of the gage pad to form a r adially tapered portion to improve steerability, reduce wear of the gage pad and/or improve ability of the rotary drill to form a wellbore having a gene rally uniform inside diameter, particularly during directional drilling of t he wellbore.