I followed the ideas of many of the instructables on here to create my arc reactor. I highly suggest looking at theirs if you have time to make one. I did this for a college (can you believe it?! Building things in college!) project. Enjoy!

Step 1: Supplies

While I have posted these supplies, I changed what I was using very quickly when the things I was using didn't end up working. I found all these at my local hardware store near campus:

1 tap light
1 translucent film canister (or white chair leg protector (to keep the chair from scratching the floor))
1 clear plastic ring (I ended up using an old style telephone dialer but you can use anything from a shower curtain ring to a table plug (for where you plug the hole if you have an umbrella))
1 sink strainer
1 conduit locknut (optional, but I think it looks better)
plenty of copper wire and hot glue

Step 2: Take Apart the Tap Light

The bottom unscrews fairly easily and then you have to remove the 3 tiny screws. After you have unscrewed it, remove the clear plastic thing from above the lights.

Step 3: Make the Arc Reactor Glow

Either use the lid of the translucent film canister or cut off the bottom (or white chair leg stopper) and use that. Glue this piece onto the tap light (right in the middle). The white creates the glow.

Step 4: Finishing the Arc Reactor

After removing the rubber stopper and metal pin from the sink strainer, I put a generous amount of hot glue on the bottom and inserted the tap light (be sure to have the batteries in the tap light at this point). Take your clear plastic ring and begin to wrap the copper wire around it. The real arc reactor has 10 sections. Mine has six because I didn't have the time to do 10 (yay procrastination!). Glue the plastic ring to the sink strainer. You can now attach the conduit locknut if you haven't already done so.

Step 5: DONE!

This really didn't take me too long to make. And most people have said that it looks pretty cool especially with the amount of time it took me to make. If you have anything bad to say, keep it to yourself. Just kidding! I appreciate criticism but please, be nice. You don't have to tell me it looks like crap; I know it does. I made it in about 2 hours. But CONSTRUCTIVE criticism is what I'm looking for. Hope you enjoyed it! And please, take a look at other arc reactors on instructables! Some people have truly done AMAZING jobs. Enjoy!