Designing Christmas tree using SolidWorks
I'm a mac user, so I installed VMware Fusion, Windows7, and on top of that I installed SolidWorks. I used only simple functions of SolidWorks and designed three different parts. During the design phase, SolidWorks freezed quite often even though I was designing just three parts! I guess it's because of using VMware, so I'm gonna try bootcamp instead of VMware. Actual thickness of material was 4.0mm based on my measurement. Given the information, I designed the model using 3.8mm as thickness of cardboard considering deformation of material and width of burned area by laser.
Taking out un-cut cardboard
At the very first trial, I was so excited to use laser cutter and totally forgot about warming up laser. I shouldn't have moved the cardboard, because multiple times cutting was required to cut through parts. But when I realized it, it was too late. I took out the board and wasted it. User should be smart enough to recognize whether material is fully cut or not.
All pieces of Christmas Tree
After cutting small test pieces of joint to make sure 3.8mm worked, I moved to cut all pieces. The process went through pretty smoothly, and default cardboard cutting parameters worked well.
Final Product
I will paint it with green and yellow, and decorate with LED lights, shiny balls, and cotton etc during Christmas season!