Cleaning bores

[GailInNM]

For rough cleaning a bore after machining or lapping, I use cotton round patches from the cosmetics department. Generic ones from Walmart are only a dollar or so for a package of 100 and they have packages of several hundred if you are a heavy user. They are about 2-1/4 inch diameter and about 1/8 thick uncompressed and pack down to about .05 thick if compressed. A single round folded in half is about right for a half inch bore and two work well for a 3/4 inch bore. Tear one in half for 1/4 & 3/8 bore. It works better if pulled through the bore. Fold a piece of wire in half and then put a patch in the fold of the wire and pull through the bore. Think cleaning a gun barrel. I moisten the patch with a little bit of mineral spirits if I am cleaning out lapping compound to measure and then pull a dry patch through. Of course, if you are cleaning up after lapping, the bore still needs to be scrubbed down very well with detergent and water to remove any remaining traces of lapping compound. If it is steel or iron, put a little oil on it after cleaning to prevent rust.
Gail in NM,USA