How do I use my Lynx system to generate income?

FinishLynx could well be the biggest income GENERATOR your Track and Field program has ever purchased.

These instructions assume:

• Your printer is set up to work with your computer.
• You are running a database program with your Lynx system.

The Printer Dialog boxes may vary with different printers. These instructions relate to an Epson 800 Color Stylus Printer.

1. Draw a box around the image using your right mouse button.

2. Select Print from the drop down menu or the use the Print icon on the Image Toolbar.

3. This will call up a Print Dialog Box. Set Print Results: On.  Maximum: 8. This should be set to the number of lanes at your track. Click on OK. This dialog box will pop up every time you go to print a race image. Unless you need to change the Results information, just click OK every time it pops up.

4. A new Print Dialog box will appear.  Select the printer you want to use from the drop down menu in the Name field. Example: EPSON Stylus COLOR 800. You can select this as the default printer in Windows to avoid reselecting the printer each time. Go to Start Menu: Settings: Printers. Right Click on printer: Set as Default.

5.  Click on Properties.

6.  Under the Paper tab, Orientation should be set for Landscape.

7.  Under the Main tab, select Media Type: Photo Quality Ink Jet Paper. Set Ink: Color. Click on OK.

8. In the Print Dialog Box, select the Number of Copies. Click on OK.

If you close FinishLynx, you may lose the Printer Settings. Double-check your settings when you go to print again.

 Hints for image sales:

• Print the full field of athletes for any sprint race.

• Set Print Results to the number of lanes at your track.  This will cover results for most races, excluding larger field distance races.

• In the case of distance races, find the athlete in the image that is buying the image and print them along with 4 or 5 other athletes. This will make for a good-sized image. If they were behind 8th place you may want to change the Print Result number to include them, but this can be left to the discretion of your operator.

1. Place image between foam board and film overlay.
2. Place board into feeder folder and put through laminator.

Materials needed:

1. Printer. We use an Epson Stylus Color 800 or 870. The Epson Stylus Color 880, the latest of this series, is advertised at $129.00 on the Epson website. Use a quality paper, such as the Epson Photo Quality Ink Jet paper.Laminator and materials.
2. We have a USI Big Mouth 12” Mounting Pouch Laminator.       Currently advertised on their website, www.usi-laminate.com, at $249.95. The 9x11.5 Pouch Boards with Film Overlay are available at $9.98 for a pack of 10. 

These instructions assume:

• Your printer is set up to work with your computer.

• You are running a database program with your Lynx system.

The Printer Dialog boxes may vary with different printers. These instructions relate to an Epson 800 Color Stylus Printer.

1. Draw a box around the image using your right mouse button.
2. Select Print from the drop down menu or the use the Print icon on the Image Toolbar.
3. This will call up a Print Dialog Box. Set Print Results: On.  Maximum: 8. This should be set to the number of lanes at your track. Click on OK. This dialog box will pop up every time you go to print a race image. Unless you need to change the Results information, just click OK every time it pops up.
4.  A new Print Dialog box will appear.  Select the printer you want to use from the drop down menu in the Name field. Example: EPSON Stylus COLOR 800. You can select this as the default printer in Windows to avoid reselecting the printer each time. Go to Start Menu: Settings: Printers. Right Click on printer: Set as Default.
5. Click on Properties.
6. Under the Paper tab, Orientation should be set for Landscape.
7. Under the Main tab, set Mode to Advanced. This will highlight the More Settings and Save Settings buttons.
8. Click on More Settings.
9. Print Quality should be set for Normal: 360 dpi. Media Type: Plain Paper and Ink: Color. Click on Flip Horizontal so that the box shows a check mark. Click OK.
10. Click on Save Settings. In the Name field, type in a name for the setting set, i.e. T-shirt. Click on Save.
11. In the EPSON Stylus COLOR 800 dialog box, click on OK.
12. In the Print Dialog Box, select the Number of Copies. Click on OK.

 If you close FinishLynx, you may lose the Printer Settings. Double-check your settings when you go to print again. You may have to reset them under Properties.

 Hints for T-shirt sales:

• Print the full field of athletes for any sprint race.

• Set Print Results to the number of lanes at your track.  This will cover results for most races, excluding larger field distance races.

• In the case of distance races, find the athlete in the image that is buying the shirt and print them along with 4 or 5 other athletes. This will make for a good-sized image. If they were behind 8th place you may want to change the Print Result number to include them, but this can be left to the discretion of your operator.

T-shirt transfers with heat press:

Trial and error got us to this loose set of instructions for using our press. Modify on an individual basis if necessary.

1. Plug in heat press. Set for maximum heat. Let it warm up for 30 minutes with press closed.
2. Open press and place t-shirt face down on lower surface.  Place a piece of cardboard inside the t-shirt.
3. Position the piece of cardboard directly under where you want to press the image. We use the cardboard backing that comes inside the packet of transfers. The cardboard sheet allows you to line up the image more easily and keeps direct heat away from printing that may already be on the front of the t-shirt.
4. Place the image face down on the t-shirt. Press for approximately 30 seconds. Open press, remove shirt, and remove cardboard sheet. Peel transfer from t-shirt. It should peel easily. If it is sticking, reheat.
5. To prevent scorching the t-shirt, we recommend using a large sheet of paper to layer between the t-shirt and the heat plate. You can use the paper a number of times before discarding for a new sheet. 

Materials needed:

• Printer. We use an Epson Stylus Color 800 or 870. The Epson Stylus Color 880, the latest of this series, is advertised at $129.00 on the Epson website.
• T-shirt Transfers. There are a number of people that make these, including Epson, Hammermill, Xerox, Canon etc. They are advertised at $13.00 to $14.00 for one package, containing 10 sheets. The transfers can be found at most large office supply stores.
• T-Shirt Press. We purchased a press manufactured by Geo. Knight & Co.  The heat surface is approximately 12x12 and weights 45 lbs. Their website is www.geoknight.com.

Networking a “T-Shirt” Computer:

1. Put the T-shirt Computer on a network with event computers. Note the name given to the T-shirt Computer.

2. Set the FinishLynx software on the T-shirt computer to Hardware: None under File: Options.

3. Create a Folder (Name of the event) on a shared Drive of the T-shirt Computer.

4. Set up the Properties of the Folder to be Shared As and Access Type: Full. Note the Share Name in the Shared As: box.

5. From your Primary Event Computer, map a drive to the shared Folder you have just created on the T-shirt Computer.

6. To Map a Drive:

• Click on My Computer
• If you do not see a toolbar at the top of the window, click on View and select Toolbar
• On the Toolbar, click the icon for Map a Network Drive
• The computer will select an available Drive with a letter indicator. For example - H: Note the letter given to the Drive.
• You will need to type in the Path. For this you will need to know the name of the T-shirt Computer and the Share Name of the Folder on that computer. Your Path will look like this: \\ name of the computer\share name of folder.

7. On your Primary Event Computer in FinishLynx, go to File: Options: General.  Set up your Competition Name and Sponsor as you always do and your Event Directory. Under Backup Directory: type in the letter of the drive you have mapped followed immediately by a colon. Example – H:

8. Place a sample Lynx event file in your Event Directory if it is empty.

9. If everything is set up correctly:

• On your Primary Computer, open Lynx.
• In the File drop down menu, you should see Backup Events.
• Click on Backup Events. It will send all event files in your Event Directory to the shared folder on your T-shirt Computer. Note: Before the backup is done, the operator of the T-shirt computer should quit Lynx and close the Folder. After the backup is complete, they can open Lynx again on the receiving computer.

You will need to have communication between these two stations as the Lynx operator will want to back up events a number of times during the day to keep the T-Shirt operator updated with results and images.

Note: There is an alternative to using the Backup Events functionality in your FinishLynx software. Simply map the drive to a shared folder as instructed above and have your Lynx operator save each race twice. Save once to the FinishLynx computer and a second time directly to the T-shirt computer over the mapped drive.