I just finished a small laser engraving job that took me by surprise after accepting the job and receiving the details. Because it is a Christmas gift I can’t post photos just yet or reveal the names of the people involved, but I’ll update this thread after Christmas. What I can tell you is that it is an engraving on the back of a very expensive, handmade ukulele with a message from a well known local billionaire to someone who is one of the top 5 richest people in the world. Feel free to guess but I will neither confirm nor deny any guesses until after Xmas. 
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Okay, I’ll bite:
A Coloma made ukulele gifted by Chip Wilson to Elon Musk.
edit probably should have looked up top 5 richest people first, but my guess is my guess edit
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Maybe it’s for Grimes.
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My ridiculous guess is that Bill Gates has a sekret side gig playing electric ukulele. And the gift is from Chip Wilson.
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That was the connection I had in my head.
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Chip Wilson for Larry Ellis
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Colonel Mustard in the library…
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Anthony von Mandl to Bernard Arnault
Or perhaps Jimmy Pattison as he is more well known?
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Steve are you worried about lasering? I imagine not as you’re pretty experienced and will do a test cut also I’m sure. What settings will you end up using?
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I would be interested to hear your procedure for testing prior to lasering the actual piece. What other precautions are you able to take when working on something with such a high value?
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That does sound pretty high pressure. I’m comfortable with laser cutting, but there is still the odd time that I forget to reduce the power before hitting the button…
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So glad its over 
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In this particular case, because I only had one shot at it, I lined everything up in the laser, reset the laser’s home position and then did an engraving with the lid open. On my laser, when the lid is open, the laser will go through the motions but not fire the laser. I can see approximately where the engraving is going to happen with the red dot pointer. Then I put a piece of 3mm plywood on top of the area to be engraved, closed the lid and did another test to ensure accurate location. Then I did the actual engraving. I know my laser pretty well so knew what an appropriate speed/power to use for the raster engraving on wood.
Sometimes I’ll cover the area to be engraved with blue painters tape and do a very low power engraving that just barely marks the tape to double check positioning. Then I’ll crank up the power and do another pass through the tape.
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Christmas is tomorrow so I can probably safely reveal the names of the parties involved - Jimmy Pattison and Warren Buffett.
Merry Christmas everyone!
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That looks gorgeous!
Mele Kalikimaka, everyone!
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Wow - that’s so nice! I can’t believe none of us guessed right. 
Warren Buffet plays the uke? That must be the secret to successful stock selection.
Happy xmas Steve and Michele!
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Wow that’s beautiful, nice job!
Is that a mandoUke?
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It’s an electric uke in a mandolin case.
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