Patent ID: 8915166

Claim:
A method for manufacturing a drill bit mold, comprising: milling into a mold component a set of junkslot formers separated by blade regions; milling a plurality of cutter pockets each comprising a seat portion and a face portion, wherein the face portion at one or more of the cutter pockets includes a milled face surface and a milled relief feature at least partially surrounding a periphery of the milled face surface; and installing a cutter core displacement at the one or more of the cutter pockets, the cutter core displacement having an outer surface conforming to the seat portion and lacking a peripheral relief feature and having an end surface which, due to the presence of the face surface, matches the face portion such that the entire end surface of the installed cutter core displacement rests against the face surface of the cutter pocket with the milled relief feature at least partially surrounding the end surface of the installed cutter core displacement.