I understand the visual part of looking for shorts, but is there a way to test that?
A short is 0 ohms or close to it. Take your meter, set it to the lowest ohms range, probably 200ohms, & test the connection you want to check.
So here we want to check to see if the power supply rails are being shorted. Take the black probe & put it on the 0v connection. Take the red probe & put it on the +ve connection. What is the reading?
Do the same with the -ve rail.
Example : If it is 1ohm, then Ohms law gives you 15v/1ohm = 15 amps. Your power supply cant handle this, hence the blown regs. OK, I dont know what the reading will be in your case, but this is the principle.
By doing this, we are purely looking for a short circuit. You cant look at the reading on the multimeter & say "this is accurate", because it will change when power is applied.
Always apply power the first time without the IC's inserted. Use the voltage chart I supplied to verify the voltages on the IC pins. This will show up power rail shorts as well. If these readings are correct, your circuit will most probably work correctly.
Also, I'm still at a loss as to why I get 56v on my 48v pin.
Some regulators need current drawn thru them to work. If you have nothing connected to the 48v rail, no current is being drawn.
Also check for a short between the input & output pins of the regulator.
Peter