So I've been getting into lockpicking a lot. Posting videos I think is cool to my friends, looking at locks and key ways everywhere I go, learning new things about how the city works through locks, and more. Recently a friend of mine in a discord asked if I could unlock one of their padlocks and give them the code for it. They have a worn but heavy duty looking padlock which has a number combination on the bottom. Don't know the brand name. I know there are things called shims and decoders but I just paid the bills and I currently have $7 in my account. I'd love to make a decoder though possibly. Does anyone know of a easy way to make one of these? I've got some stuff laying around I can use. A metal from a windshield wiper and other neat little things. Could sacrifice something if it turned out to make a decent decoder. I want to be able to return the lock to them with the code figured out so they can use it again but without this tool I don't really see how to do it. Anyone know of a way to do this? Pictures and videos are helpful in explaining for me.
P.S. I tried looking through the little gap between the combination dial and the lock body to see the notch but I can't focus without glasses.