I started on thingiverse just searching laser cutting to try to find a cool design. Since I am inexperienced with this technology I decided to pick something that seemed pretty easy to put together, so I picked this building.
After I found the design on thingiverse I downloaded the blueprint and opened it in Illustrator. The image above is blue print for a tie interceptor because I was unable to find my original blueprint of the building.
After I downloaded and opened the blue print I had to select all of the lines I wanted to cut and make them red and have a stroke of .0001 so the laser cutting machine can recognize that those lines need to be cut. Then since the lines are able to be read by the laser engraver. Then I uploaded it to my flashdrive and started the engraving/cutting process.
To start cutting/engraving I put my cardboard in the corner of the laser engraver and made sure everything lined up. Next I open my file on the computer. Then I set up the CPU and align the laser to where I want the edge of my image to be. From there I close the lid to the engraver and click the big green play button. From there everything takes care of itself and all I had to do was put it together.