Replaced the 7915 with a fresh one, voltage changed from -15.5 volts to -15.05 volts a bit closer to spec..
The offset remains at .02mV.
quoted from the appnote:
a few modifications are
necessary to accommodate a 100mV reference
(..........)
Third, a 300k potentiometer should replace
the 300k? fixed resistor in the comparator translation
network. With VIN = 0V, this pot should be adjusted until the
display reads equal intervals of positive and negative signs.This resistor is fixed in the 179 and part of a resistor array (R135H) yes hurrah it thighs the zero point to the -15v rail
so might botch in a trimpot or use the original keithley solution pulling the analog ground pin of the icl7103
a bit above or below actual ground (towards one of the power rails) using r144,r145 and r146.
Either way long term 'zero' stability is dependent on the power rail stability, so might want to get that nice and stable first.
Next step is to remove the pushbutton range switches (really dickey) and the current shunts (drifted anyways..).
And substitute a nice rotary switch for input range switching (also loosing ohms and high voltage).
To leave a ac/dc voltmeter with ranges from 200mV to 200V and adding in a 24bit/96khz adc to
do some audio bandwidth fft stuff on a computer.
Fun and learning new stuff all the way.