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Hi,
I picked up a wonderful Cole Steel cabinet at the local thrift store. It was a steal.
There is a combination lock, and the original local fire station said they lost the combination years ago.

There's an "N" number written on the back inside wall as usual, but as I couldn't figure out what the decoder trick was, I drilled a small hole in the back and peeked in with my endoscope.

The peep hole is great. It's very easy to spin the combination until the fence drops. But, that's where things go bad. After the third wheel is aligned and the little curved finger (the fence?) drops into place, I can't seem to move the dial in the opposite direction. I've used "hand strength" only as I don't want to break anything.

Any thoughts on what might be happening at that point? I can create an endoscope video later if it helps.

Also, with this combination, it seems to work consistently only if I start by spinning the dial clockwise until the first gap opens up. ("First", in this case is the one closest to the camera, which is the rear of the lock.) If I start by spinning counter clockwise, that back wheel doesn't always turn.

There is no handle, just the round combination lock dial with the Cole logo on it.

Help?
-Pete

Got it opened!
Here's the weird thing... I don't know how I did it! I kept looking at the disks with the lever dropping down. Then I went to reply to an email, when I got back, I wiggled the knob and the door just opened!

it sounds to me like you were dialing in the wrong direction. This will affect how the bolts retract because there will be no reversing on that step. Try it with the door open and see how it works. If the door had sagged or was otherwise binding on the bolts, it would not have wanted to open either. But, like I said, try it open. If that works well then it is a problem with how the door fits the opening. Just keep working the problem, you will eventually figure it out. Great job so far!