How to Make the Ultimate Beer Wizard Staff

You want to be a powerful Beer Wizard, but the Wizard Staff you make at your college's frat party fell apart in one night? Tired of running out of duct tape? This tutorial will give you all you need to know to make the ultimate Beer Wizard Staff that can withstand all types of abuse. How you ask? Magic! (The magic of Home Depot hardware, of course).

Step 1: Gather Your Supplies

Supplies you'll need:

Be a 21 year old person.

13-14 standard beer cans. Best to have variety, rather than it all being just Natty Light. Some fancy beer stores let you mix and match a six pack.

1 larger beer can. This will be your top piece.

1 6ft length of 3/8" all thread. You can buy this at Home Depot, Lowe's or any hardware store.

20-25 3/8" washers and nuts.

1 can of the Great Stuff Big Gap Filler, in the black can.

Duct tape.

Colored Tea Candle lights that twist on, rather than an on and off switch.

Tools you need:

1 power drill. We used a drill press, but honestly a simple hand drill will do.

A box cutter, to cut open the top can.

Safety glasses for drilling holes

Latex gloves

Hot glue gun.

Step 2: Drill Holes Into the Cans

Wash the cans so there isn't any beer left. The expanding foam you'll use later does not mix well with beer for whatever reason. Also, that's gross. Clean out your cans.

Once you are done doing that go ahead and drill holes in the top and bottom. The bottom hole is pretty easy to do. The top hole usually fights you a little more. Luckily, they always get covered up, so it's not a big problem that the top gets all gnarly. Just get a hole big enough that the all thread can go through the top.

Make sure you are wearing gloves and safety goggles. The drill does throw around a lot of tiny metal pieces. I probably should have had actual safety gloves for when I drilled these cans out. Oh well. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Step 3: Lock Two Nuts on the Bottom of the All Thread

This is going to be the base of your staff. Make sure these are on tight.

Step 4: Slide Can on and Secure With Nut and Washer.

The bottom can is going to be your base and get the dirtiest. Make sure you use your cheapest beer here. Slide the can onto the all thread all the way to the bottom. Then, at the other side, slide the washer on and screw the nut all the way down into place.

This part is going to take a while for the first few cans, but it gets easier as you add more and more.

Once you've reached down to the can, tighten down the nut so it's secures the washer on top of the can. Hand tight will be fine. No need for wrenches.

Step 5: Fill Can With Expanding Foam

Fill the can with the Great Stuff gap filler. Once this hardens, it'll give your beer staff some serious strength. Fill the can about 2/3 of the way with foam and let it expand a bit. We filled this up a little bit too much and had to clear off the excess stuff. Although, after making a bunch of these, we found that having them fill too much was preferable to too little. We went light with the expanding foam in early prototypes, but they ended up getting crushed after a couple nights of use. When it's all the way full, these things are rock solid. It's easy to clean off the foam when it dries too.

Step 6: Repeat Step 4 and 5

Just keep adding those cans until you are about as far from the top of the all thread as your top can is tall. It's a lengthy process. I recommend a good podcast.

Step 7: Cut Open Your Top Can

The top can, you are going to want to fill with glowing LEDs, so that everyone will know your glorious wizard powers. Cut open a hole in the back of the can like in the picture. Make sure you cover the edges of the metal with duct tape, because those edges are sharp! You'll be digging your fingers around in there to turn your lights on and off, so you'll want to make sure those are covered.

Step 8: Attach Your Top Can

This one is a little different than the rest of the cans. You won't be filling this one with expanding foam, so you'll need to secure it at the top and bottom with nuts and washers.

First put the all thread through the bottom hole. Reach in and secure the bottom with a nut and washer.

Next, secure the top with a washer and two nuts to lock it into place. You could secure it more with hot glue or something else if you want.

Then you'll have your top can on their securely!

Step 9: Finished the Staff!

At this point, the structure of your staff is complete. Next is how you can imbue your staff with the power of LEDs.

Step 10: Hot Glue the LEDs Into the Can

Use the Tea-candle lights to light up the inside of your top can. Make sure you get the type that you twist to turn on and off. Once the lights are in there, you'll be able to twist them on and off to save battery. Plus, the batteries in those are easier to switch out.

Oh, and when you are securing the lights in the can, be careful with the hot glue. That stuff hurts.