I've seen some great examples of TIG welding and brazing on small objects (which is what I'm interested in) but looking around, a TIG welder would cost anything from £150 to several £K - and how do you know where the sweet spot is in that range for a particular job? I'm sure the cheap ones are too cheap, but then you rapidly get to the point where the ongoing cost of gas and other materials is rather irrelevant compared to buying the kit! At the moment I use MIG (a little) and often just to tack together CNC-cut tab-and-slot steel components that are then silver-soldered using a simple propane torch. I'm wondering about going oxy-propane which would be fine for brazing and silver-soldering but just not hot enough for welding (as I understand it).

Comments on TIG welcome - although I think it's going off the original topic more than a little...