How to prevent jams when shuting down or starting up printer (1 reply)

I have my Prusa/Mendel working now and starting to produce decent prints, BUT, I spend far too much time clearing filament jams in my extruder and hotend. Once cleaned out and restarted the print is usually OK, but at the end of the day or between prints it is necessary to shut down and on restart I will have a jam more often than not.

My current method is to have my fan cooling the area above the heat module, and turn off the heat. My startup is
to turn on heat and wait for it to reach temperature, then manuall command it to extrude. This is my go/nogo point
and often there is no filament flow and there is a jam or blockage somewhere. I then dig out the tools to begin another stripdown - I am getting good at this part...

What is the best way shut down and startup our printers to prevent filament jams?

There must be some best practices out there, I can't believe people have as many jams as I so as I do. I spend more time getting filament to flow than I do in printing!

I am using a Wades extruder and when confident in my prints I will print a Gregs Wades hinged extruder.

I am printing with 1.75mm PLA, have a fan to cool the PTFE tube, use a Wades extruder and a basic hotend.

Any suggestions will be appreciated.

Bob