So my EDC Pilot VP had suffered droppage previously and one morning the innards dropped out. I followed Richard Binder's instructions to remove the clip/cap HERE, but squeezed a bit too hard Further efforts were successful, but the cap is toast. I managed to reassemble the spring, trapdoor and rubber boot into the steel cylinder. Using my trusty Emco Unimat lathe, I turned a replacement nose I started with a small through hole, and once I had removed it from the lathe I was able to use a dremel with a burr to carve out the D shaped hole for the nib. I think it looks great! If others want to have a go, here is the drawing I used: (NB the figure next to each angle was the deflection of the point of drill used to pick the angle)