Robrenz,
As a real life machinist I can see where you are going and I love it. I will be making some prototypes late today.
The point of the following is a detailed description of using machinist stuff to position for precision soldering.
Skip it if that sounds dumb to you.
What I have been using as positioning parts for detailed solder work either under a cheapo magnifying glass on a flex arm or medium power stereo-microscope is my dial indicator stuff. I started with the obligatory Last Word 711 line of widgets and added the Universal Snugs #57S and 58S on just about any combination of rod stands. I have some 50 year old #657A's (or whatever the number was back then), and two #3657U clones that work great.
The Sleeves #657R and 665L together with the combo rod thing #PT27171 are fantastic for support at a critical point that must be very small.
Using a 24" x 36" x 1/4" thick steel base and about 12" x 18" of ESD mat cut from BER1-23BKT, I can position all the supports around the outside and work on the mat. Non-magnetic bases are available everywhere so if you don't want magnets in your ESD environment, you can easily get rid of them. I only use the steel and magnets because I need them for my machine setup and layout station. If I where starting form zero, I would never use the mag bases.
To start looking at this stuff get Starrett's "Precision Tools" catalog # 33 at:
http://content.yudu.com/A290vg/StarrettCatalog32B/resources/index.htm?referrerUrl=http://www.starrett.com/catalogs. Under options (far left top of page) the drop down window allows you to save for offline work.
Look at pages 133-143 and 177-182 to learn the product vocabularies. Then go to EBay and try the vocabulary. Try not to buy Starrett. The clone parts are all there for 1/10th the cost. I have had great luck with the Chinese vendors and terrible luck with the Hong Kong vendors (long delivery).
Nice work,
Boondock