As long as they have a lathe with a center hole in the spindle big enough to accommodate the size shaft you choose, it's easy to support most of the shaft on V blocks and just stick a few inches out of the chuck, machine it, then reverse the shaft and do the same thing on the other end. 1" diameter round stock is easily accessible, and cheap.
Just for cutting the keyways, I'd guess about 2 hours' time, max. Maybe less if your machinist is quick at getting set up to make a cut. That's a pretty simple operation, and regular 1/4" key stock could be substituted for the Woodruff key, which would make setup time even shorter.
Jerry
