I drilled and tapped an aluminum rod at each end to mount a GPS motorcycle stand. When tapping a 1/4" thread I tried to find the center drill closest to the OD of the tap. Used a drill press and a juror to align the round bar and drill head so that everything was centered and drilled out with a pilot drill.Worked like a champ making sure my tap was properly centered and aligned when I started tapping the tap.The pilot drill was only used once in soft aluminum so I don't know how he will hold himself in steel.