I think I just need to know how to cascade shift registers, and how to reset at a certain point (if say I want to reset the cycle before the last pin on the shift register).
There are different shift registers, and the details of cascading them vary somewhat between them, but basically you feed the output of one to the input of the next.
But referencing your schematic from post #9: See also the datasheet the found here:
https://www.onsemi.com/pub/Collateral/MC74HC164B-D.PDF
R55 and C1 form a Power On Reset that ensures that all the shift registers are LOW at startup. The inputs of the first SR (U1 pins 1, 2) are tied HIGH so that on each clock pulse (not shown) the HIGH state at the input progresses through to the next register.
The output of the last register of U1 (pin 13) is connected to the input of U2. The output of U2 is linked to the input of U3 the same way.
The reset pulse is taken from the third register of u3, (pin 5) which is the 19th register in the string. Like all of the previous 18 steps, pin 5 goes HIGH. This goes through an inversion provided by the transistor in U6 and is feed back to the Power On Reset circuit, and we're back where we started. If you want a different count length, take the reset signal from a different output. But it still needs to be inverted.
Note:
1) The 74__164 is available in different product families. The 74HC164 can run at 6V as shown on your schematic. The 75HC
T164 is designed for 5V and can NOT run on 6V. So be careful not to get the two mixed up. Or you could run the system at 5 Volts and use either part.
2) If the output of the transistor in U6 (pin 16) that is used for the reset function is not shared with anything else, then D1 is not needed and can be replaced with a wire.