Daren - Below are some answers for you.

1) The higher the gear ratio, the higher your resolution will be. You will also gain more torque. The drawback is that you lose speed at the indexer. You would really have to investigate the speed/torque curve of the motor and calculate your cutting torque to gain a real understanding. I think anything between 3 and 10 would be fine.

2) You may have to use the ASM911AA and ASD30E-A-B1 on yours since this matches what your currently have. I am not sure that you can mix in different drives in the control box. You could check with Shopbot. You can find these on Ebay most of the time.

3) You are going to need the ribbon cable and extension cable no matter what you do. The easiest way is to buy these from Shopbot. You'll spend way more time and money trying to get them elsewhere or make yourself. The resolution settings don't have any thing to do with the cables. These are calculated numbers based on your setup. Here is a link of an old post that I had that will help you some. http://www.talkshopbot.com/forum/sho...ght=resolution