If you press the escape key while translating a Cave Tablet with the Spelunkery Table, you can retrieve the items from the slots at any stage of the process. This allows you to cheat out of failing translation and breaking the tablet.

It is also possible to move yourself far away from the table while in the interface using water or other methods, which will automatically exit the interface. Again, this allows you to cheat the process.

From the description of the process in the Cave Compendium - which states you cannot remove the items once translation has begun - I can only assume this was unintentional.

Solution 1: Exiting with the escape key or distance is disabled once spelunkery translation has begun, and re-enabled when it is finished.

Solution 2: Exiting with the escape key or distance when translation is in progress breaks the cave tablet.