Crikey you can get a complete set of lenses and cups from Amazon for £50.
They don't have much in small quantities at the moment but there are 3 x 2.4 lenses for a fiver
The way we did it was not costly at all.
Eastwood electrostatic gun from Frost
or another one from Electrostatic Magic
both need compressed air but a tiny unit will do as you waft the powder on not spray it.
(a fish tank aerator would probably do)
Powders again from Electrostatic Magic
Prep is...
I've got various meters but find my Mastec AC/DC clamp meter very useful - no having to break circuits to measure any current.
Also handy for measuring inrush current.
Stainless backing mesh melted into the parent with a Weller style soldering gun with smoothing tips.
I use a hot air rework station from Amazon - easier to manage than a big hand gun - also the adaptors for air guns are stupid money.
I've got many different repair rods HDPE, ABS etc etc but...
I bought mine from Frost and it came with a converter.
Also bought an oven from Amazon
Made another with HVC pipe 250 * 1000mm and a hot plate.
Auto temp control with some more stuff from Amazon.
Powders from Electrostaticmagic - cheap and a huge range.
We supply air to the gun with a...
I struggled with arc until I learned to bend the rod to make myself comfortable and then use my free hand to guide the rod - there are some gifted folk out there that can guide a rod one-handed at full extension but most of us can't.
I had to learn arc welding to maintain a log flume - I like it as it's cheap, simple and I have confidence in the welds I produce.
Never liked mig despite having two good machines - never liked the welds produced by other fellow operators - too many welds lacking penetration.
Cut a lot with gas...
Nickk - check the manual for the machine - the lowest spec 151 tig/mma they make (that I can find) has gas solenoid valve, high frequency start, up/down slope, pre/post flow and goes down to 5amps.
Depends a lot on what you intend to do - hobby weld or career.
TIG is a slow process.
You can usually/often arrange for your hands to rest somewhere and slide (TIG finger)
Wire feeding with delicate finger movements is good but within reason not totally necessary - all the welds I do are 6" or...
What happened in my case was the cup screwed up tightly on the gas lens but did not seal well against the insulator - at a glance it looked ok.
As mentioned I use 5-6 lpm of gas measured with a pea shooter so I know the gas is actually exiting the cup.