The following information is provided to SAS Industries customers to help them color selection when they want to have a gasket produced in a custom color. When requesting a color match please bear in mind that it is done on a "best effort basis" and may not be an exact match to the color standard and that each computer screen may view the colors differently due to settings. Also bear in mind that color matching may incur additional charges.

The colors in the Federal Standard set have no official names, just five-digit numbers. Any names given below are generic.

The first figure can be 1,2 or 3 and indicates the level of sheen:

• 1 = gloss
• 2 = semi gloss
• 3 = matt

The second figure of FS code indicates a general color classification group;

The remaining figures (third to fifth) combined into a number indicate the intensity. Lower value indicates a darker color, higher value - a lighter color, with no other significance. The numbers have been assigned with gaps to allow addition of new colors. Fed-Std-595 is a color collection, not a complete color system, and this has the following implications:

• The existence of a color chip 1xxxx in the FS Fan Deck doesn't imply that there is a color chip for 3xxxx. However, references to such "virtual" chips built on the principle "same color, but different sheen" is a widespread practice.
• The FS in not extensible, i.e. it does not allow to derive new colors form the existing ones. Thus, if you compare i.e. RLM colors to FS codes, you can only refer to the nearest existing FS color, which most often isn't a perfect match. In practice, the FS set is extensive enough to find a good-enough match for almost any color.