Isolated film tension and steering system

A method comprising:

• receiving an indication of a requested amount of film;
• causing, based at least on the indication, the requested amount of the film to be extracted from a film buffer at a first rate via a first drive roller pair;
• determining, based at least on a dampening roller associated with the film buffer, that a current amount of film contained on the film buffer is equal to or less than a threshold amount;
• determining, based at least on the current amount of film and the dampening roller, a second rate;
• and
• causing a second drive roller pair to provide the requested amount of the film from a film source at the second rate.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer executable instructions stored thereupon which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

• monitoring a film buffer comprising a stored amount of a film and a dampening roller;
• receiving an indication of a requested amount of the film;
• causing, based at least on the indication, the requested amount of the film to be extracted from the film buffer at a first rate via a first drive roller pair at a first time;
• determining that a current amount of film contained on the film buffer is equal to or less than a threshold amount;
• determining, based at least on the current amount of film and the first rate, a second rate for filling the film buffer from a film source;
• and
• causing a second drive roller pair to provide at least the requested amount of the film from the film source at the second rate at a second time.