I don’t whip out the Ceramark very often (to quote the great Clevon Little “Excuse me while I whip this out!”) but once in a while need to,. The wife needed a monogram, on a last minute holiday gift for one of the other riders in the barn so got a lead rope in their school colors (both went to Tufts - because who doesn’t like Blue + Brown). Anyway, first attempt was an utter failure as that’s not brass!! that is anodized steel (or steel adjacent) washing it off after the engrave was dissapointing to say the least. Well quick hit with the 3M mesh sanding pad on the random orbit and hit it again with ceramark spray and back in the laser. To say this objects does not want to lay flat or square is an understatement. Nothing was flat on this engrave in any sense. I 3D printed a quick jig to hold it sort of level (ish) and square was of course nudge, look in the GFUI, nudge more, etc. Finally came out. Then hit it with a layer of car clear-coat to make it not instantly rust in the wet barn environment. It’s darker than it seems in the photo as it is shiny so the phone was struggling a little bit.
Cool. My aunt Linda Fox is a horse lover too. Small world.
As for 3d printing, the tin foil trick is great here. Crumple up a loose ball of foil and press your item into it. Steady and level in no time.
Yeah, that’s not going to level the cheaply pressed plate there, nothing is making that level short of an anvil and hammer! But that’s a good idea, the other thought would be modeling clay would do the same (and would rigidly hold the object)
Good idea.
Only caution is that some synthetic clays contain pvc. Shouldn’t laser near those in case you miss and hit the clay.
Now you’ve done it; a whole bunch of Blazing Saddles quotes just ran through my head.
That was a heroic effort; nice results.
Congratulations on continuing the tradition of a making a holiday gift that will “only take a minute” and having it turn into a full-fledged project! That is what makes having all the tools such a joy. 
that turned out nice…not quite as quick as expected I’m sure!!