Digital BW, The Print

Following up my query yesterday, in case anybody else encounters the same
question...

I asked: 

  ... the instructions that come with the piezo software include all
  sorts of dire warnings about the need to properly flush the old inks
  from the system, but the instructions about precisely *how* to do this
  are less than clear.  (The instructions only talk about how to do it
  for an Epson 3000, not 1280, and the included purging pattern has only
  four bars, not six.  Furthermore, the bars in the purging pattern are
  all gray, though the instructions imply that it is to be printed
  through the Epson driver.  Can this be right?)

  If someone has successfully installed a piezo cartridge set on a 1280 and
  can quickly summarize the steps (or point me to someplace where they've
  been written down -- I surfed for an hour but found nothing), I'd be
  grateful. 

After some discussions on the list some more solo surfing, I managed to
find a semi-authoritative answer.  Remembering that the Lyson inks are
also said to cause clogging problems if mixed with Epson inks, I had a
look on their web site.  Sure enough, they've got an informative page of
instructions about their suggested purging procedures for different
printers.  And, most helpfully of all, they've got a procedure for the
Epson 3000, which looks quite similar to the very complicated one I
sketched above, side by side with a much simpler procedure for the 1280:
remove old inks, insert flushing cartridge, print purging pattern, remove
flushing cartridge, insert new inks, print purging pattern.  

After following this procedure, I appear to be up and running with the
piezotone inks.  I'm seeing some minor clogging on some images, but not
worse than what I experienced with the MIS inks (one clog per several
pages), and the clogs are always taken care of by a nozzle cleaning
cycle.  I hope this will straighten itself out as I put more ink through
the head.

Several people have told me that they don't believe flushing / purging is
necessary at all, but there doesn't seem to be a clear consensus on this,
and I was reluctant to take even a small chance of gumming up my printer
if there was a simple alternative.

As for my side-question about the gray purging pattern, no one has
suggested that it could be right -- it must be intended to be printed
through the Cone driver, no matter what the instructions may imply.

Regards,

    Benjamin