How do you limit the force/torque during a position controlled motion?

When you are executing a standard position controlled motion to place a part, it is often important to limit the force or torque generated by a specific axis to avoid having position errors result in excessive forces. Motor forces or torques can be limited by modifying several different configuration parameters.

If you wish to limit the force/torque while still permitting gravity compensation and/or other feedforward terms, you should set the "Max positive torque limit for PID feedback" (DataID 10351) and/or the "Max negative torque limit for PID feedback" (DataID 10352). For example, this is very useful for linear Z-axes that are subject to a significant amount of gravity loading. These parameters permit you to limit the force applied by the motor as though the axis were gravity balanced. If desired, these values can be saved to flash so that they will automatically be put into affect when the controller is rebooted.
If you wish to limit the force/torque for a motor at all times, you can reduce the product of the "RMS rated motor current, A(rms)" (DataID 10611) times the "AUTO mode motor PEAK(non-RMS)/(RMS rated) current, %" (DataID 10613). For standard motors, motor current is proportional to motor force/torque. The servo code automatically restricts the magnitude of the commanded current to be less than or equal to the product of 10611 and 10613. If desired, these values can be saved to flash so that they will automatically be put into affect when the controller is rebooted.
If you wish to temporarily limit the force/torque of a motor, you can set the "Guarded move max motor torque %" (DataID 10618). This value must be changed using a GPL program and is never saved to the flash disk. Each time the system is rebooted, the maximum force/torque defined by 10611 and 10613 will again be in effect.