Nick,
Also another concern is the company is from the UK - not that I don't like Brits, but they probably aren't in the university's purchasing system, and to have them put into the system can take upwards of two months. Another solution is to get an XY-axis stage from Newport (something like this:
http://search.newport.com/?q=*&x2=sku&q2=M-460A-XY), making sure the stage is large enough for the magnetic chuck to fit on, and then place a steel sheet on top, which you can bolt down using the provided threads in the stage. This option is pretty cheap. For the Z-axis translation, we can look at setting the camera and camera mounting system (the details are in the attached PDF - we are just getting the lens mount hardware, not the stage) and using a system like this:
http://search.newport.com/?q=*&x2=sku&q2=M-EL80 , to get our travel out of the camera. Play around with the available equipment and let me know what the best system is, both in terms of functionality and cost.
Regards,