So I'm infrotn of the thing I placed the orbuler thinger on the thinger then placed an ebony helm Daedric heart and "apple of Eden / Weapon of mass destruction" into the offering box and pulled the lever

Absolutly nothing happend

then as a test to see if teh forge was broken i put a ruby and a fire salt into it instead and pulled the leevr sure enough Fire Atronach ...

am I missing an item ?

What are you trying to do exactly? You can check recipes here. http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Atronach_Forge

Make a Daedric helm is what I'm tryign to do .-. also have an ebony shield on me another daedric heart and 3 Dynamo centorian sphere (or Apple of Eden's as im just gonna call em ...)

.-. so im missing a black soul gem ?

How do I make one of those in my topic on it people told me to mine Geode Veins in black Reach all i got was common soul gems

Mining soul gems is random so the chance of a black soul gem is rare. They are often dropped by necromancers/necromages. I think you can also buy them from one of the mages in Winterhold College.... Maybe it would be easier smithing one?

Falion in Morthal sells those gems for a certain reason... One at a time only, though, I think.

Anyway, the higher your level, the more likely you'll find them as random loot. Dwemer machinery often have a leveled/random soul gems on them, for example.

Why cant i just stick some grand soul gems in an alter cast soul trap wake up the next morning and go yay corrupted soul gem like I did in oblivion .-.

yes that would make things easier, I miss that alter from Oblivion too.

You can find Atronach Force Recipes in some of the evil Mages lairs. With those you have a list of ingredients to forge spellbooks, staves and armors.

I wish making your own staves would've been less sinister feeling and limited.... but I guess with the whole "spellmaking is OP" mindset they just wouldn't allow it.