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Use these tips and backSground information to reduce your cost and avoid ordering errors for Sea Pearls custom printed vinyl accessories:

We can print your custom artwork on hose sleeves, regulator service sleeves, or cylinder valve caps. We can use any camera-ready art, or we can compose a plate using text and your logo. Printing plates are reusable, and we’ll keep your plates on file at our factory. There are two charges, a one-time charge to make a plate, and a recurring charge to print your merchandise.

Service sleeves come in two sizes, Regular and Large. Tell us your size preference and your requested number of individual service sleeves in each color. Tell us whether to print your service sleeves with your custom logo.

The size refers to the inside diameter of the sleeve. The size has no bearing on the size of the scuba regulator hose that will run through the sleeve. The size determines only from which end of the hose the sleeve can be installed. Regulator hoses have a nut on each end over which a sleeve must pass. A large sleeve fits over the larger nut on the secondstage end of the hose, and a small sleeve fits over the smaller nut on the first-stage end of the hose. Nearly all orders are for the smaller or “regular” size.

Service sleeves come with standard wording already printed on the sleeve. There’s no charge for this standard wording, so no special notation is required when ordering. Black, orange, and yellow sleeves have the “CRS” wording. Green sleeves have the "EANx" wording:

You may add custom printing to service sleeves. We simply print a second image on the other side, opposite of the standard wording.

You may replace our standard wording with a custom set of words and images, usually some advertisement for your store.

To avoid a minimum printing charge for the job, you must order must at least 200 items to be printed by a single printing plate in a single color. Try to arrange your printing order to meet the 200 piece minimums for each combination of printing plate and ink color. See the illustrations below.

Both regular size and large size service sleeves use the same printing plate and ink color. The size of the sleeve doesn’t matter for printing. Tell us your size preference, and the requested number of individual sleeves in each color.

The size refers to the inside diameter of the hose protector. Unlike service sleeves, this size does correspond to a particular diameter of regulator hose that must pass through the sleeve. Make sure you’re ordering the right size. If you have hose protectors in your store already, look for the letter "L" or "R" just inside the flared, bell-shaped end of a sleeve. The letters are not always readable, so if no letter is visible, check another sleeve. The large sleeve fits ½ -inch regulator hoses. If forced over a large hose, a regular sleeve will eventually split. If used on a regular hose, a large sleeve provides little strain relief.

Hose protectors come with no printing, as opposed to service sleeves, which always have the standard printing or custom printing or both on every unit.

You can order that hose protectors be printed. We use the same size printing plate on hose protectors as on service sleeves, and most customers use the same image on hose protectors as
on service sleeves. Although most customers have one plate used interchangeably on both, it’s possible to request one image on hose protectors, and another image on service sleeves. Two different images would require two different printing plates.

Both regular size and large size hose protectors use the same printing plate and ink color. The size of the protector doesn’t matter for printing.

Valve caps come in one size. Tell us your requested number of individual valve caps in each color. Tell us whether or not to print the caps. Like hose protectors, valve caps come with no printing. Valve caps use a smaller size printing plate than do hose protectors and services sleeves, which share the big size plate.

Valve caps always print in silver.
Combining printed pieces to avoid the minimum printing charge.

There are two sizes of printing plates, and two colors of ink. The large size plate prints hose sleeves and service sleeves interchangeably. The small size plate prints only valve caps. Silver ink is the default color, except for service sleeves, which normally print in black. Since we never use black ink on valve caps or hose sleeves (expect by special request), there are three categories of printing as shown below:

The easiest way to understand printing combinations is to visualize three groups on the Fax Form. Try to order a minimum of 200 printed pieces in each group. If any group falls short of 200, then a single $20 minimum printing charge covers the printing of everything in that group.

Of course, every good rule has an exception. If you’re short of 200 printed pieces in Group 1, you can add something from group 2 printed in black instead of the normal silver ink. If the press is already set up in black for Group 1, you can add items from Group 2 for printing in black, except for a black hose sleeve. But, it makes no sense to shift Group 2 items from silver to black just to avoid the charge. If you’re already committed to a silver setup for Group 2, order the full 200 pieces in Group 1.

The same three groups apply to the high-quantity price break for printing. The lower printing price applies to all pieces in a group when there are 500 or more pieces in that group.

Printing plate charges

If your plate needs a change, write "new plate" on the Fax Form. Make sure we know! We keep printing plates on file for each customer. There is a one-time charge to make the plate, but there is no charge to store and re-use your plate on future print jobs. When ordering, consider whether the printing is the same as the last job we did, or whether the imprint is to change. Many plates include the store’s phone number, so take special note of changes to your Area Code. Note on the Fax Form that you’ve OK’d the existing plate.

You should always take time to pull a sample of your last printed order and review its accuracy. The plate charge includes regular type and simple paste-ups using your logo. We can create custom artwork for an extra charge, which varies with the complexity. Call for a quote on custom artwork.

We have stock "Rental" plates available for no charge. Regular printing charges apply.

Artwork suggestions

Avoid complex logos, which don’t reproduce well in the small printing field available. The area available on a hose sleeve and a service sleeve is 2.25 inches wide by 0.5 inches high or 23 mm by 13 mm. The area on a valve cap is 1 inch by 1 inch, or 25 mm by 25 mm. Before ordering, try to reduce the logo to actual size to help visualize its look on your finished product.