Here's my first attempt with homemade carbon fibre - I wrapped carbon fibre fabric and epoxy resin around a section of old loo roll to a depth of about 2mm. No vacuum was applied so I guess this must be somewhat sub-standard carbon fibre. I assume it can only get better if I take more care with the build up, and pull a vacuum.

I needed to get some idea of how strong this initial test piece might be before using DIY carbon fibre on anything serious, so I placed it like a chain link between a Clarke Power Puller and some bags of sand and gravel. Each bag weighs about 20Kg. I lifted one, two, three and then four bags, up to approx. 80Kg. The carbon fibre ring showed no sign of breaking. I will try again soon with bricks or something which can take the weight up to perhaps 250kg, although perhaps the carbon fibre ring or another part of the lifting mechanism will break before then.