TIG Al, SS brush after tack welding or weld away?

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Here's one that's been on my mind for, well a few minutes.  When AC TIG welding aluminum, after tack welding is it necessary to brush the whiteish "cleaning" zone formed from the arc around each tack, or is it already clean from the "cleaning" action of the arc?I tend to give it all another brush with the SS toothbrush after tacking, but dumb common sense makes me ask if it's already clean from the DCEP phase of the arc "cleaning," so am I wasting my time with that?Thanks.Favorite right now is a Miller Syncro 200.Tons of tools and I blame at least one of them when things don't go right.
Reply:Sometimes I do..Sometimes I don't..All depends on how lazy I am at the moment..But in honesty I dont see any diffrence.....zap!I am not completely insane..Some parts are missing Professional Driver on a closed course....Do not attempt.Just because I'm a  dumbass don't mean that you can be too.So DON'T try any of this **** l do at home.
Reply:a few minutes or a few hours after tacking ? no sweat. if it's more than 24 hours(according to LINCOLN) then you have NEW oxides on the alum , & it must be cleaned AGAIN, before welding .[SIZE="5"Yardbird"
Reply:Thanks guys; that's something I had wondered about for a while.So far I always weld soon after tacking -- no delays.  I don't have the willpower to wait that long.  Did a bunch of aluminum yesterday and I've gotten to the point where I can look at the bead and often diagnose what's not quite right (usually a little too cold -- got to have the stones to risk burn throughs to get a decent weld it seems), but I'm still working on correcting it. Favorite right now is a Miller Syncro 200.Tons of tools and I blame at least one of them when things don't go right.