Technology: how is jewelry chain mass-produced?

Self-tutoring about manufacturing: the tutor looks into the mass-production of jewelry chain.

Last night, shopping with my wife for clothes, I noticed the jewelry display. There were some really nice-looking items, at low cost – around $20 or so. I would guess they were copper or perhaps nickel or stainless steel.

Inspecting the pieces, I noticed many consisted of dozens, perhaps hundreds, of fine chain links. The chain might have been 0.5mm thick, while the links, possibly diameter of 2.5mm.

Cheap or not, making all that chain would require precision. Furthermore, it must be mass-produced, to be offered so affordably. “How is it made?” I wondered.

This morning I searched the ‘net to find out, and came across this fantastic video from Online Jewelry Academy which shows a chain-making machine in action.

From what I observed in the video, the operation seems first to involve twisting the wire into a spiral. Then, for each link,

1. a cut
2. a twist
3. and finally a spot weld.

It definitely helped me understand.