Making your own carbon fibre parts at home is much easier than you might think. You can make your own carbon fibre parts at home using basic tools and equipment, and some carbon fibre materials such as carbon fibre cloth and epoxy resin.  You can buy these materials from carbon fibre cloth suppliers.

To make your own carbon fibre part, you first need to decide what to make, and how to make it. This might sound silly, but you need to have a good plan for what part you are going to make and how to make it. Carbon fibre parts are generally made in a mould, so you will either need to use some existing mould, or you will need to make your own mould, perhaps by taking a copy of a part that you want to replicate.

The basic steps to make a carbon fibre part are then as follows:

1. Make sure the surfaces of your mould are ready - smooth and clean.
2. Add a mould release agent to the surface of the mould. Most carbon fibre fabricators use a PVA release agent, (polyvinyl alcohol), or a beeswax polish.
3. Mix up a batch of epoxy resin in a mixing cup.
4. Spread the epoxy resin over the surface of the mould, leave for about an hour until the surface is slightly tacky.
5. Cut a piece of carbon fibre cloth to the rough size of the mould and carefully press it into place
6. Mix up another batch of epoxy resin and spread it over the carbon fibre cloth, working the resin into the cloth using a paintbrush to ensure that there are no airbubbles between the first ;layer of resin and the carbon fibre cloth. Any air bubbles left in the part will make the part much weaker. Most carbon fibre fabricators use a vacuum bag to remove all the air from the part before the resin sets.
7. Repeat steps 5 & 6 until enough layers of carbon fibre have been added to make the part stiff. Usually a part will consist of at least 3 layers of carbon fibre, but a stronger part will need more layers of carbon fibre to make if strong enough for the application.
8. When enough layers have been added, leave the part in the mould long enough to cure, (about 24 hours), and then pop it out from the mould using plastic wedges, taking care not to damage the part when removing it from the mould.

The resulting carbon fibre part will have a glossy, translucent finish on the mould side, clearly showing the carbon fibre weave through the first layer of epoxy resin. For a mirror perfect finish, the cured part can be sanded with very fine wet and dry sandpaper and finished off with automotive cutting paste used for removing scratches from car bodywork.

Below are some links to where you can buy carbon fibre materials in the UK.

UK Suppliers

East Coast Fibreglass Supplies. East Coast Fibreglass stock a wide range of carbon fibre materials at a pretty reasonable price.

Fibretech GB. Fibretech offer carbon fibre and aramid fibre cloth suitable for hobbyists and small projects. Fibretech's range is more suited to smaller detail work, with a wide range of carbon tapes, tow and braided sleeves.

Carbon Mods. Carbon mods stock some useful stater kits which are ok if you are looking for small quanitites of carbon fibre materials and basic tools to get started.

Carbonology.  Carbonology is a UK supplier offering a dedicated range of carbon fibre materials.  Carbonology sells starter kits and educational material.

ABL Stevens.  ABL Stevens (resinsupplies.co.uk) has a good range of carbon fibre supplies.

If you can recommend any carbon fibre cloth suppliers, either in the UK or around the world, please post a comment on this page and we'll add them to the list.

Release agents are used to help a carbon fibre part pop out of the mould once the resin has set. There are two types of release agent that are commonly used: PVA release agent, which is relatively inexpensive, or polish release agents. such as beeswax polish, or even just a regular car polish like turtle wax.

Release agents form a barrier between a mould, (or plug), and the epoxy resin of the carbon fibre part, to stop the part from sticking to the mould.

Epoxy resin is a tough clear plastic when set. Epoxy resin comes in two parts in liquid form - an epoxy resin and a hardener. You mix the epoxy resin and hardener together and then apply it with a paintbrush to the surface that you want to coat. Epoxy resin cures to form a hard plastic, used in carbon fibre composites.

When mixed together, epoxy resin is like a thick varnish and quite easy to use. After about 20 minutes however, the resin starts to get thicker, and becomes unworkable after about half an hour or less. You should mix up only as much epoxy resin as you can use in 20 minutes; approximately 1/3rd cup of resin.

A standard epoxy resin will take about two hours to become touch-dry, and about 24 hours to harden at room temperature. Once it is fully cured it can be sanded and polished or painted. Epoxy resin is clear, so if you are laminating carbon fibre, it can be polished to show a very professional result, with the silky carbon fibre weave showing through the glossy epoxy resin. Epoxy resin does degrade in ultraviolet light (eg sunlight), but that can be mitigated against by using UV protection additives with the epoxy resin.

There are many other additives that can be added to Epoxy resins to alter their appearance and characteristics. Colour pigments can be added to epoxy resin to create deep colour even when the part is scratched, and various metal flakes can be added to give a metalic effect. Other additives can be used with epoxies, such as lightweight filler powder to create a plastic like bodyfiller that is lightweight and pretty strong.

When epoxy resin is 'curing' (hardening), a chemical reaction is taking place, which causes it to heat up a little. The additional heat also causes the resin to cure quicker. If the resin is spread thinly over a surface, the heat generated by the curing process is barely noticeable, but if there is lots of resin in a confined space, eg the bottom half inch of a mixing cup, the resin get quite warm to the touch. This means that to make the resin last a little longer before it 'goes off', you should try to spread the resin around the surface you are painting as quickly as possible, to get it out of the pot and spread out quickly, and then worry about covering the surface evenly.

Epoxy resin is available from most carbon fibre materials suppliers, and can also be found at boat chandlers.

Carbon fibre cloth is a woven fabric of carbon fibres.  Carbon fibres in their natural state are able to bend to some degree, (before the carbon fibre cloth is encased in epoxy resin, when it become extremely stiff).  Because the carbon fibres are able to bend, carbon fibre cloth is able to flex and contort to be whatever shape it is being moulded into.

Carbon fibre cloth is available in different weave patterns.  The different weaves affect the carbon fibre cloth's flexibility, or its ability to bend around corners.  A 'twill' weave is more flexible than a plain weave, but not as strong.  A twill weaved carbon fibre cloth is used for making a complicated shapes or a carbon fibre part with tight corners.  A plain weave carbon fibre cloth is used if the part has a simple shape and doesn't have tight corners requireing require a felixible cloth.  The resulting part is stronger with plain weave cloth as the fibres of hte cloth are more interwoven than with a twill weave.

Carbon fibre cloth is also available in different weights, which basically show how thick the carbon fibre cloth is.  You can make a part stronger by using lots of thin layers of carbon fibre cloth, instead of fewer layers of thicker cloth.  The downside of using lots of layers of thin cloth is that works out it more expensive and it takes longer to make the part if there are more layers.

Carbon fibre cloth can be purchased from many online suppliers and stockists.  For more information, see our article on where to buy carbon fibre cloth.

The basic tools you need to make carbon fibre parts are all pretty cheap. Below we list the tools and materials you will need to make your own carbon fibre composite parts at home or in a garage.  You don't need much make basic carbon fibre parts at home, and it needn't cost too much.  You don't need a big workshop full of equipment to make carbon fibre parts, just somewhere that is dust free and dry.

Materials

Just two materials make up a carbon fibre composite part: carbon fibre and epoxy resin.  The combination of the two of them make one very strong carbon fibre composite, also known as carbon fibre reinforced plastic.

Carbon fibre is usually used in the form of a cloth or fabric.  Carbon fibre cloth can be purchased mail-order from many carbon fibre suppliers, and costs about £30 per metre, ($45 per yard).  Carbon fibre fabric is available in different weaves which give it different strength and flexibility properties, and also give it different visual appeal.  Carbon fibre is also available as a tape, or as 'tow', (which is just a reel of straight/unidirectional carbon fibres).  Carbon tapes and carbon tow are used to supply reinforcement to a specific area of a part

Epoxy resin is used to hold the carbon fibres in place.  An epoxy resin is a clear plastic that is purchased in liquid form in two parts, (a resin and a hardender), which when mixed together, set to form a tough, clear plastic.  Carbon fibre composite parts are just a laminate of layers of carbon fibre cloth held in place inside a matrix of epoxy resin.

Tools & Equipment

You need very little in the way of tools & equipment to make carbon fibre parts.  Most of the things you will need are disposable and cheap:

Gloves are essential.  The components in the epoxy resin are hazardous to health and rather difficult to remove once mixed and set.  You should always wear disposable rubber gloves when making carbon fibre parts or working with resins.  Most places that sell carbon fibre materials also sell latex gloves and they are usually very cheap, so make sure you buy a box of gloves when you make your first carbon fibre or epoxy order.

Mixing cups & mixing sticks.  You will need a bunch of mixing cups to mix up the epoxy resin.  The best to use are the disposable paper cups that can be bought from your local supermarket, (or CF supplier).  Buy ten or twenty cups at a time, as you will use one each time you mix up some resin.  You will also need some mixing sticks to mix up the epoxy resin.  Ice lolly sticks are great for this, but you can use alternatives so long as they are clean and don't contaminate the resin.

A small set of scales is useful to weigh the epoxy resin and hardener to ensure you get the quantities right.  A set of digital kitchen scales is good for this, but the more accurate the better.  Alternatively, you can buy graduated pumps for the resin & hardener bottles which make the job much easier, and only cost about £5 (US$8).

Paintbrushes! You will use paintbrushes to paint the epoxy resin onto the carbon fibre.  When the resin has set, the paintbrush is ruined, so it is important to buy cheap paintbrushes, and forever be picking bristles out of the epoxy.  Most places that sell carbon fibre cloth also sell cheap paintbrushes in bulk.  They usually work out to about 10p (US 15c) per brush.  There are alternatives to using paintbrushes, and there are ways to clean the epoxy out of the brush, or slow down the hardening process by freezing the brush, but it is easier to buy cheap brushes.  To start with at least, budget for a dozen or so cheap paintbrushes.  Best size is about 1 inch (25mm).

You can buy all of the tools and equipment above for about £20 (US $30), and the materials for not that much more.  With them you will be able to make your own DIY carbon fibre composite parts at home or in a garage.

Welcome to the new DIY Carbon Fibre blog.  We will be showing you how easy it is to make your own carbon fibre parts at home using basic tools and a variety of methods.  Making your own carbon fibre parts at home doesn't have to be expensive, you can make carbon fibre parts on a budget and still get good results to be proud of.

We will show you where to get carbon fibre supplies in the UK, we will list lots of companies that sell carbon fibre materials, epoxy resins and vacuum bagging consumables, and also where to get the basic tools you will need.