Completed in 2012, the Mediator V3 (Latin for “mediator”) is Markus’ second self-built lightsaber. The Mediator V1 never reached a state where it could be called reliably working, and the V2 never made it past the concept phase.
The influence of Qui-Gon Jinn’s lightsaber on the design is unmistakable: emitter and pommel resemble his, and the overlay also borrows heavily from the Jedi Master’s saber design.
The hilt is made of (modified) parts from the Modular Hilt System (MHS) by The Custom Saber Shop. Parts of this modular system were used for the team’s lightsabers for many years. The saber’s highlight is the crystal chamber, which you can admire through slots in the hilt.
Specifications:
- MHS hilt parts
- black powder coating
- Crystal Focus Saber Core 5.3 by Plecter Labs
- GGW Tri-Cree high-power LED
- 2 x 14500 Li-ion 7.4 V battery pack
- Illuminated crystal chamber
- Saberproject-style LED switch
- 2.1 mm recharge port
- 2 W bass speaker
Concept
The build was preceded by an extensive design phase that produced more than 10 different versions over two weeks.
Hilt
The saber consists of four main parts: emitter, pommel, a long main section with countersunk holes for the switches and slots to see the crystal chamber inside, and an overlay. The overlay was cut and sanded with a Dremel. The rear overlay is held in place by the screw that both fixes the Covertec wheel on the hilt and keeps the chassis in place. The front overlay is kept from slipping by a grub screw.
As with the Amphibolia, shortened LED holders and heads were used to press the switches glued into the chassis. The LED holders also prevent the overlay from twisting in the middle of the hilt.
Crystal chamber
The basic parts of the crystal chamber are three threaded rods, two MHS pommel inserts, two 3 mm LED holders and a crystal. The threaded rods visible through the slots in the hilt were covered with brass tubes.
A rock crystal point serves as the crystal. It is aligned in the chamber with copper wire clamped between nuts on the threaded rods. The crystal is lit by 5 mm LEDs. Two plastic discs center the chamber in the main chassis.
Chassis V1
The chassis consists of a sanded-down 32 mm PVC pipe and cut plastic profiles. Cutouts in the pipe hold the glued-in switches and align the crystal chamber and make it visible. They also secure the plastic profile that holds the soundboard and battery.
The then-new Crystal Focus Saber Core 5 and a 3.7 V Li-ion battery power the saber. Connectors were used on the wires for easier maintenance.
Chassis V2
Less than a year after completion, the rear part of the chassis was replaced. The rise of 3D printing opened up new possibilities in chassis building. The rebuild also swapped the 18650 3.7 V Li-ion battery for a 7.4 V Li-ion battery pack made of two 14500 cells.
