So I've made some progress... But not much. I received my order from McMaster-Carr containing the 3 drill bits. After trying all 3, I was able to determine that this shaft is very hard.
But in all seriousness, the steel used is harder than any other steel I have worked with. The 2.5mm carbide drill bit wasn't able to make any progress on it. I have an older 1/8" (3.17mm) carbide-coated drill bit that was able to penetrate, but it is of course a larger diameter than what it should be. All of this was after setting up my cross-slide vice on my drill press table, and setting it all up perfectly and tightening everything up. The use of oil made no difference.
(jeez, I don't think I have made so many sexual references in one post)
On to the pics:
And I also made a vid of the motor running:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...27213169795459
The black disk I put on is the brake rotor.