After getting everything in working order (including calibration of the endstops to get a near perfect perpendicularity), the z axis was getting plugged down into the spoil board (literally spoiling the board) whenever I was doing contours with tabs. After experimenting, I figured that the z axis was loosing step. Even after lubricating the threaded rod like crazy, I was still getting missed steps in the z axis. After digging further I found out that in the dual endstop firmware, the acceleration for the z axis is set at 400 vs 35 in the regular T8 no dual endstop firmware. Edited the firmware and now everything is working.
Ryan, you may want to revise the firmware.