MIG Accessories

The consumables and wear parts that keep a MIG gun running. This is the largest category in the catalogue, and the one where a few dollars of the right part prevents hours of rework.

The front end, in order of wear

• Contact tips wear fastest. They transfer current to the wire and control arc stability; a worn bore causes arc wander, burnback and erratic feed long before it looks worn.
• Nozzles build up spatter, restricting gas flow gradually. The porosity that results is usually blamed on the wire or the gas.
• Gas diffusers block quietly and are hidden under the nozzle, so they are inspected last. They also carry current to the tip.
• Liners cause most feed faults. Steel for mild steel wire, Teflon or composite for aluminium and soft wires, sized by wire diameter and gun length.
• Necks take the physical abuse and fail intermittently when the internal conductor loosens.
• Drive rolls must match wire type and diameter - V-groove for solid wire, knurled for flux-cored, U-groove for aluminium.

Diagnose from the wire out

When a MIG gun misbehaves, work from the wire toward the machine: drive rolls and tension, then liner, then diffuser, then tip, then neck. The machine is the last suspect and almost never the culprit.

Buy consumables by the box

Tips, nozzles and diffusers are a running cost. Shops on production work should carry stock, not order per failure. Ask about volume pricing on standing consumable orders.

Match the series

Front-end parts are series-specific and not interchangeable across gun families even where they look identical. Bring the front end to the North York counter or send a photograph and we will identify it.

Browse MIG parts by type: MIG guns, necks and liners, contact tips, nozzles, gas diffusers and push-pull guns.