Escape Key Project - B - Braille Relief

This week’s mission was to create a series of relief plates as part of the ongoing Escape Key Project. That was the plan, at least. And it’s a concept I really like: placing tactile plates underneath the desk, hidden from sight, where players would have to feel their way to a clue. The idea is that something about the texture or pattern would be unusual enough to draw attention through touch alone.

My initial inspiration took me to Braille. I’ve used it in puzzles before, and while it’s a brilliant tactile language, it’s also a bit overdone in escape rooms and puzzle games, and I wanted to avoid the cliché, so I began exploring other ways to create a similar tactile experience without using Braille directly.

A Sense of Touch

The plan was to have a panel you could push up from beneath the desk, allowing your fingers to find a grid of pins or dimples. Some of these pins would be functional, others false - you wouldn’t realise there was a pattern until you interacted with the mechanism directly.

I created a plate with small raised pins using Shapr3D. But when I went to attach it with hex bolts, I ran into a problem: the bolts didn’t fit. Despite using precise measurements, the 3D print was too precise — the fit was so snug I couldn’t actually screw the bolts in.

Tolerance and Tools

This is a good reminder that even high-precision tools have tolerance limits. 3D printers are incredibly accurate, but you still need to build in a margin for physical parts to fit together properly.

To solve the issue, I made a simple tool: a hex and circular gauge to quickly test the fit of bolts. Ironically, I designed it in Tinkercad — often dismissed as a "kids' tool" in the 3D design community. And yes, it has limitations. But for quick builds like this, it’s unbeatable: fast, intuitive, and really effective. It was far easier to align faces in Tinkercad than in Shapr3D, which oddly only lets you align bodies, not faces. (The Shapr3D alignment tool feels like it was designed by a monster — the tutorials are needlessly complex. Good training takes us from where we are to where we need to be.)

Cutting the Plate

Once the 3D plate was sorted, I turned to the wooden plate build. For this, I used Cuttle, a 2D design tool that generates SVG files — essentially coordinate maps your laser cutter can follow. I’m currently using the free version, which is more than enough for my needs, though the Pro version offers more features (at a cost I’m not quite ready to justify).

Each plate took around three minutes to cut — not bad at all. I had to tweak the tolerances a bit to make everything slot together smoothly. If you watch this week’s accompanying YouTube video, you’ll see the finished plate mounted under my desk. And yes, as I type this, I’m absent-mindedly fiddling with it. It’s hidden, subtle, and surprisingly satisfying.

Looking Ahead

I know the last two builds have relied on dots and tactile lines, and they might feel quite similar — but I promise, there’s a lot of variety coming. Future projects will diverge wildly in form, material, and method. This one just happened to follow on naturally from the last.

Thanks for following along with The Escape Key Project. If you’ve got thoughts, questions, or suggestions — I’d love to hear them. And if you’re building your own versions, definitely let me know! Until next time — keep escaping.