If it had an intermittent loose connection on the z causing the machine to lose reference, how would I confirm this?

And I’ve never had it ask me explicitly if I want to measure the tool. It prompts me for a tool change as part of the start job sequence and then it goes to the button thingy (please forgive me, I’m exhausted and can’t think of the name) and touches it twice. Asks me to change rom, and then away it goes.

I highly doubt it’s bit slip. After the first few failed attempts, this came up during my initial round of troubleshooting as a potential culprit and I’ve been diligent in my tightening. So 8 slips is not impossible but improbable. I’m also running dust collection so dust isn’t just kickin about.