The following article has been adapted from Weld Troubleshooting for Non-Welding Engineers

Contact tips aren’t supposed to disappear like magic tricks. When you’re constantly replacing them — something is wrong.

Yes — buying “better” contact tips may help temporarily. But that is just a band-aid. Excessive consumption of contact tips is a symptom. The goal is to fix the root cause.

Let’s look at why this happens and what you can do today to improve your shop’s efficiency by reducing the amount of time you have to change contact tips. 

Common Causes of Excessive Contact Tip Consumption

A number of variables influence contact tip life, such as:

• Amperage and transfer mode
• Welder technique
• Condition and setup of the feeding system
• Wire quality and surface finish
• Type and copper grade of the tip
• Preventive maintenance practices

If you have noticed an increase in the consumption of contact tips the key is to find what changed right before tip usage increased.  Or, if the quantity of tips has not gone up but you are looking to reduce the amount of contact tips you consume it is important to look at the most likely causes for excessive consumption.

Cause #1 – Erratic Wire Feeding

One of the leading causes of excessive contact tip consumption is burnback which is typically caused by erratic wire feeding.

When the wire speed fluctuates or stalls, the arc collapses, the wire fuses inside the contact tip and the tip is ruined.  In some cases this will cause birdnesting which dramatically increases the amount of work and time to change the contact tip. 

Recommended Solutions

• Check feeding system for restrictions:
  • Liner wear or debris
  • Drive roll condition and tension
  • Wrong contact tip size
  • Gun cable kinked or wrapped too tight
• Establish a preventive maintenance routine
  • Inspect liners, replace when worn
  • Clean nozzles and diffusers
  • Ensure proper cable routing
  • Fix feeding issues before burnback occurs

Good wire feeding translates to a long contact tip life.

Cause #2 – Welding Wire Defects or Handling Damage

Sometimes the issue isn’t the equipment — it’s the wire.

Wire that is:

• Out-of-spec in terms of size or surface finish
• Rusted or contaminated
• Stored incorrectly
• Damaged during shipping

…can create drag, chatter, and burnback.

Recommended Solutions

Solution 1 — Replace the spool or drum of wire
If the issue goes away it indicates that wire spools or wire drum damage is likely.

Solution 2 — Add a wire straightener
Wire that retains coil memory rubs the inner surface of the tip and accelerates wear.
Straighteners improve feed stability and reduce friction.

Cause #3 – Unfavorable Metal Transfer Mode

Some modes of metal transfer are simply harder on contact tips:Higher amperage = more heat at the contact point = faster consumption.

Worst → Globular 
Better → Pulse
Best → Spray / Short-Circuit (when appropriate)

Higher amperage within any mode accelerates tip wear.

Recommended Solutions

• Avoid globular transfer whenever possible
• Use pulse only when benefits outweigh added tip wear
• Move to spray transfer if material and position allow
• Reduce amps within WPS if burnback becomes frequent

Cause #4 – Welder Technique or Work Practices

Even with a perfect setup… technique can destroy tips.

Common issues:

• Excessive CTTWD (electrical stickout)
• Incorrect torch angles
• Bending gun cable too sharply
  

Recommended Solution

Invest in welder training
Small habit improvements translate to big consumable savings.

Skilled welders can make average equipment perform above average.

The cost of not addressing excessive contact tip consumption

Don’t treat excessive contact tip usage as normal.  It is imperative that you keep contact tip usage at an acceptable level.  Increasing contact tip consumption has the following effects on your business:

1. Increased material costs (more contact tips)
2. Increased rework – when a tip seizes up it will sometimes create an unacceptable arc termination that needs to be reworked. 
3. Increased downtime – it takes time to change a contact tip. In some cases, as when we have birdnesting it can take 10 minutes or more to change a single contact tip. 
4. Reduced productivity – less time available for the welders to weld (add value to the end product).

You must ALWAYS focus on identifying and fixing  the root cause — not just the symptom.  

If you found this article helpful, you will benefit from our full troubleshooting guide:

Weld Troubleshooting for Non-Welding Engineers
→ Covers 20+ welding discontinuities and problems (root cause, remedies and prevention)
→ Help you identify the root cause
→ Provides solutions
→ Help you prevent welding problems and reduce non-value added troubleshooting time