Seems like Dremel 3000 + 199 single cut steel wheel would work, per this youtube video (skip to 5:54)

https://youtu.be/ZA3HDDOOY9A


I'd really rather not shell out for a Dremel, but it seems like it would work pretty well for sawing off an aluminum post.

Anybody got any suggestions?

A hammer?
Aluminum does not like to bend and work hardens extremely fast, do not hammer it unless you want to do serious damage to it. Even under the best of circumstances there is a good chance you will rip a hole in the bottom of the case by knocking it off.

Grind or cut it off.

Yeah seems like metal saw on a rotary tool is my best bet.

I did it a few weeks ago with a drill press. Just choose a large enough bit to get the whole post in one go and try not to go down too far.


I did this to see if it would feel better as a tray mount like the original duck poker. my 2 cents is that is doesn't change a thing in terms of flex/keyfeel.

Yeah, I would also use a drill, just larger than the post you are trying to remove. The existing bolt hole in the post should help guide the drill down.
I think you could do it with a hand drill if you just clamp the case to your workbench and go slow and steady.
Then you could use a Dremel routing bit for the last finishing touches.

No-one will see it under the PCB so finishing is optional

I try to do any dodgy things involving cutting/grinding outside if possible, you don't want small sharp bits of metal in your food!

Well, I'll start with the good news.  It was refreshingly easy to drill down the center post using my extremely underpowered 7.2V Black and Decker battery-powered hand drill.  Also good news, I would say that removing the center post has practically no effect on the flex of the board IMHO YMMV.  I did manage to get the whole board together at one point to test this out before the fatal comedy or errors (see BAD news below).  There IS flex in the lower left corner of the board.  However, this was an inherent problem with the KBD 5 degree case to begin with because there is no support post there, and has nothing to do with modding the case or the 1UP HSE PCB. 

The BAD news is that I thought I over-lubed the stabilizers because my space bar was gummy/mushy.  I actually had it all together and aligned nicely and then I realized I had to take it apart and fix the stabs.  Also you have to press the reset button to program it, (which I didn't realize there was a hole for that at the bottom of the case), so these two factors convinced me to take the whole thing apart again.  When I got the thing apart, I realized I could have just pressed the reset button with it together, and my stabs started magically working totally fine.

Then when I was putting it back together and snapping in the switches, somehow I think one or two of them were unaligned, so there was a lot of pressure between the plate and the PCB, and I somehow managed to punch-out one of the kailh sockets.  So now I have a soldering project on my hands.   HA HA HA HA HA, THIS IS SUCH A FUN AND EASY HOBBY!

Pics:

I just clamped it to the kitchen table and went for it.  I ended up having to use a 5/16" bit, I believe, at the very end, because at first I used a much smaller bit and ended up just coring out the center post because the bit wasn't big enough.

You can see about how much mess it made in the attached photos, and then how it looked in the end.  Aluminum bits didn't go flying everywhere, as I had prepared for (safety goggles, cardboard barrier, and no-cut gloves on).  You can see where I missed once with the drill and scratched up next to the hole a little bit, but again, it doesn't matter because it's all under the PCB.