Ok perhaps I don’t know what I’m talking about but here it goes…
The end of the crankshaft (affectionately called “the nose”) is tapered; tapered with a notch cut in it to hold the locking key.
The harmonic balancer hole (affectionately called “the hole”) is a matched taper that fits perfectly on the nose.
For argument’s sake, if the harmonic balancer was mounted on to the nose of the crankshaft and torqued to spec without using the lock key, the balancer/pulley would still be extremely tight on the crankshaft nose. It wouldn’t wobble at all - would be solid as a rock. What would happen of course is that it would spin on the crank because there wouldn’t be anything locking it in place.
Theoretically speaking, I’m not so sure that its all that important to have a perfectly fitted key fit super snug in the slot on the nose.
The only function the key (and slot) carry out is preventing rotation. They aren’t contributing to harmonic balancer snuggness.
The way I’m seeing it (Caution: leave the room now if you’re squeamish) is if the balancer hole fits tight on the nose, the key only needs to be in there to prevent spinning. It doesn’t need to be a perfect fit. If the key prevents spinning — that’s all that’s required.