Missing cleanliness, Godliness for aluminum tig..

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Ok, so I don't do aluminum as often as I'd like to. I was very good with tig  in school, but after school I never picked it up much. Now with my Diversion 180 I like to play with it some more every now and then but I keep getting dirty welds. My brushes are stainless steel, never touched carbon. All grinding wheels are the same situation, my material rarely touches steel except when on the table during my work-time. I switched from thoriated tungsten to ceriated, this helps a little bit because it doesn't crumble like the thoriated did. But I still get the black dots in my puddles. My bench grinder is dedicated to tungsten only, but I have shaped both the TH-2 and CR on the same wheels. Could this be a cause for the dirty welds? Should I take it up a notch and get some Zirconiated electrodes and have one bench grinder for absolutely nothing but those? Should I get grinding wheels made out of something specific for my tungsten? I basically just feel like I'm missing some puzzle piece here, because nothing I've tried so far has really helped. I cuss my work every time I do it and lose my temper. I didn't have this issue in school 2 years ago, why now? Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks for reading
Reply:pepper flakes usually means O2 contamination (by any possible way), or not enough balance towards the cleaning action.  First thing to do is to use more cleaning action.  If that doesn't solve it, then you have O2 contamination (torch head parts, hoses, gas solenoid, argon tank, etc, improper cup size, improper CFH flow). 1st on WeldingWeb to have a scrolling sig! HTP Invertig 400HTP Invertig 221HTP ProPulse 300HTP ProPulse 200 x2HTP ProPulse 220MTSHTP Inverarc 200TLP HTP Microcut 875SC
Reply:Ok, thanks. The Diversion has no adjustment for the AC balance, unlike those Dynasty 200's I loved so dearly. I'll check out my machine's lines andf torch and see what happens.
Reply:Clean your aluminum with acetone until the rage is clean then brush it with a new ss brush then acetone again. I don't think you gota worry about mixing up tungstens on the grinding wheel. Yes get a zerconiated 1/8 diameter and after you get the shape you want on the grinding wheel then get all the deep scratches out on a 80 or 120 grit flap wheel you could even go higher for Better polish. 6 cup should work with 15 cfh or more if you want the weld really shiney. Clean ur filler rod to with acetone that could be your problem.
Reply:My old machine didn't have balance control either. Sometimes I was able to get rid of some pepper in the puddle by running my arc length a little longer. That widens the arc cone and I got a little more cleaning at the toes. You may want to give it a shot.Mike ZanconatoZanconato Custom Cycles @mzank on Instagram
Reply:Thanks, ya'll. I played with the torch head and lines last night and the welds came out better with no pepper. I often run into it tho in hard-access joints, so maybe bring the cup size down for that? I run 15cfh maybe a lil more sometimes. Usually a #7 cup and 1/8th tungsten.