If you follow the words of the good Dr you can't go wrong.
Carbon is likely sensitive to solvents used in paintstripper, so I would not use them. However, I will sand and prep it for paint. I have handbuilt, sanded, prepped and painted a dozen or so windsurfboards and though it IS rocket science, I managed just fine. BTW a Carbon composite sandwich windsurfboarder is big $$$ and very thin laminates. It does help that back in the early 90's I worked in composites product development.
Any composite lay-up I've ever worked with has a designated surface layer which is designed for surface finish. Also in quality carbon composites it is often a thin glass weave or mat. The modern superlite stuff may be different but anything that old will not be engineered down to the last final strand of fibres. If you occasionally hit the surface fibre layer when sanding down the lacquer there will be no big effect on the structural integrity.
You do need to work disciplined and avoid sanding spots down to the underlying structural layers. Stick with the higher grit numbers and avoid power tools you will be very tired before you get there, so you can hardly go wrong. Sculpted transitions between tubes will be more difficult, but that's equally true in production so there's more material there to start with.
Top tips:
1) Always degrease thoroughly before any sanding operation, other wise you drive the contaminants deep in the grooves with the grit, not good.
2) Never come within 100 yards of anything labeled Silicone :twisted: and
3) Use cleaners and primers specific to composite substrates. Notably the primer, once you have the correct primer coat most paint will work but check compatibility.
Some day I will do the same with my Mongoose Carbon Pro SX, but paint is only falling off the aluminium bits for now
Enjoy!!
