Shoulda known you have the goods Wiz! Even though I worked around PLC's in my packing house days I was not a tech, just a mech/fabricator. So you don't think a Arduino could control some printer guts? IIRC there's a guy on U2oob that used an Arduino to do some simple etching with a hacked printer.

The hose I use is 1/4" 1/8" wall Tygon 3350 platinum cured lab grade silicon hose. Very soft and pliable, easy to cut and very expensive. I cut at present 3,000+ pieces a year and it's getting old.

What I envision is using the motors and linear guides pull the hose off the reel. I have totally cool little Sprague clutch bearings I got at a wacky yards sale where this guy was making powered skate boards and I picked up a bunch, new and used. So the idea was to use them on the feed arm to keep the hose trapped and feeding only one way. Ever since I discovered Sprauge clutches in automatic transmissions I've been amazed they aren't used more like in socket ratchets. I had a little ratchet screwdriver that used a Sprague clutch and it was amazing for tight spaces because there no slop like in a regular ratchet. I think they would be perfect for making a one way feed mechanism. But I'm a mechanical guy not an electronics Wiz