I set my breadboard up like that and then proceeded to wire it as described, https://www.instructables.com/id/Make-an-XOR-Gate-Out-of-Transistors/
When I was done, only one switch worked.
Just to be certain, on the OR gate I wire each collector to the other and each emitter to the other? The collector of the or goes to the power rail? On the nand gate, the emitter of the transistor on F gets wired to the negative power? The second black wire goes from the collector on the nand gate to the emitter on the bottom transistor of the and gate, correct?

 

The photo shown above is from the link, not your setup so no way to tell.

On the nand gate, the emitter of the transistor on F gets wired to the negative power

What does F mean?
You just need to wire as in the schematic given.
There are some other transistor XOR circuit examples in the "Related Forum Post" at the bottom of this page.
SG

 

F is f on the breadboard. I get that he has a diagram and pics but as far as I can see the pics and diagram differ and it changes in the last pic.

 

This is an XOR Gate, sorry it is not animated.


This is an XOR Truth Table:


Think about it and understand how it works or why it works. Obviously if your board is not working correctly you need to check the point to point wiring and make sure it is like the above schematic. Too easy to misplace a wire when working from a picture.

Ron

 

When I was done, only one switch worked.

Which switch?

Just to be certain, on the OR gate I wire each collector to the other and each emitter to the other?

Are you wiring the transistors correctly? Transistors in TO-92 have 3 different pinouts.