As far as tanks, check with your local shop to see what you can buy & own and then simply exchange when you need a refill. Locally, the older welding supply shop will exchange 40cf tanks outright. That's what I have, based on the previous shop I used who had the same policy. The newer shop in town will exchange 80 cf tanks outright. If you want more capacity without a lease, buy extra tanks in the same size. I have multiple 40cf O2 tanks and acetylene tanks that I've accumulated, so I can weld for quite a while. A gas saver and peizio ground igniter are great accessories.
For reference, I rebuilt (braze & silver solder) a pile of chisels last weekend and used at least 2 lbs of fluxed 3/32 bronze rod. I used one whole 40cf tank of each plus less than half a tank each of their replacements. Hours of torch time. Without the gas saver, it would have been more o/a used and a lot less work finished.
My 20 yr old Miller TIG came home from the welding repair shop for a funeral this week, so I'm also looking to replace it at some point. The service tech suggested watching for a Lincoln Precision for used units, also to consider the new Lincoln Inverter TIG. If you are buying used, make sure things are serviceable- the diode boards on the Millers can be obsolete, expensive, if not impossible to fix. Similar things are true with other brands. New is great.
No matter- until I find a decent price on a good TIG, there'll be an order placed for a new Meco Midget, tips and lightweight hose.
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