processingdetails

Reaming

Reaming is a process that slightly increases a pre-existing hole to a tightly toleranced diameter. A reamer is a little similar to a mill bit in that it has couples of cutting edges arranged around a central shaft. Because of the delicate nature of the operation and for little material is removed, reaming can be done by hand. Reaming is most precise for axially symmetric parts produced and reamed on a lathe. Reaming should not be relied upon to correct the location or alignment of a hole. Its primary purpose is to fine-tune the diameter of the hole.

The present reaming tool can be used to enlarge the diameter of a segment of a hole. This widening can be a belling and it can be a widening of a segment for a number of feet beyond the bell. In widening the hole beyond the bell shaped hole, formed by the gradual extension of cutting arms, the drill string is moved upwardly after the cutting arms have become fully extended. However, in another embodiment the bell shaped portion of the hole can be expanded to a hole of constant diameter by having cutting surfaces on both the upper and lower surfaces of the cutting arms, and after the cutting arms are fully extended, to cut downward and expand the hole to a constant diameter. This constant diameter will be equal to the width of the tool from extended cutting arm to extended cutting arm.

The present reaming tool is very useful for increasing the diameter of an oil or gas well. However, it can also be used to make holes for foundations, underground chambers for anchoring above ground structures, for coal and ore mining and for drilling water wells. The advantage is that from a pilot hole of about 5 inches diameter, a chamber of up to about 50 inches diameter can be formed at essentially any point underground. This reaming to a larger diameter can be done in a single pass or in multiple passes. A single pass would be used when working in soft formations. However, in oil and gas well use, the diameter will be increased sequentially to incrementally expose a new part of the formation. The reason is to expose new unplugged formation. Such new formation will have a greater flow rate of oil and gas.