Metal belt for laser materials processing

A transporting system, for laser processing a workpiece. The system uses a metal belt, formed of a metal material. The belt is formed into a continuously moving conveyor that has plural holes therein that are between 0.005″ in diameter and 0.025 inches in diameter, and are spaced ≦10 mm but ≧5 mm from one another. The holes are beveled in cross-section at an angle between 40 degrees and 60 degrees to form a smaller hole size at the outer surface and a larger hole size at the inner surface. A vacuum source is connected to apply vacuum to the inner surface of the belt, to each of the larger size sections of the plural holes. A vacuum source is connected to apply vacuum to the inner surface of the belt, to each of the plural holes. A laser system, directs its output beam towards a laser processing area in an area of the belt on the outer surface to process the workpiece.