After monitoring framebuilding sites and email lists for quite a while now, there have been a few people over the years that insist on buying the bernzomatic setup and then find themselves blowing $$$ on the oxygen cylinders. I have never seen any of those people that have come back and said that it worked fine. Mostly they come back and admit they wasted a lot of money. I guess it depends on if you are sincerely going to give this a try -- if not, don't buy anything. I have always figured it costs at least $1k before you know if you really want to work on frames or not. I got my torch from someone who couldn't afford to go to his class and knew he was never going to build a frame otherwise. In my book, there is no shame in giving up before you start if your heart isn't in it.