Reduction

The gears and pulleys thread has got me thinking about how I'm going
to design my setup once all my parts arrive.

Originally, I was going to use belts and pullies to handle the job,
at some sort of reduction.

I'm using the Camtronics 600-in-oz peak servo motors (torque constant
50in-oz/amp). My calcualtions show that un-reduced, the motors will
generate 45ipm at 300in-oz and generate 1176.5 lbs of force at the
tool. (assuming no lead screw friction)

45IPM is too fast, of course. I'll probably be dealing mostly with
aluminum, plastic, and in some rare instances, steel.

By gearing 2:1 with pullies, I add backlash, increase resolution and
force, and reduce speed. Seems like a good idea except for the
backlash.

My question is this: which is my best option:
1. unreduced and direct drive. I guess in this case I'm relying on
the software to control the feed rate?

2. reduced with pullies. 2:1 ups my resolution to .0001, increases
my force to the lead screw, and shows down my IPM a bit, but still
pretty fast. I'm even considering 4:1 to up my resolution even more
to .00005.

Is the backlash problem really that bad?

Jake