There's basically four types of 3d printers in the mainstream nowadays.
Filament printers, these are the most common and generally are the lowest-resolution. That said, they print in a lot of materials. Prusa, Ender, Bambu Lab, are the main companies that come to mind.
Resin printers. These are extremely high resolution but prints tend to be more expensive. And it's difficult to print big parts, or parts with large hollow portions (cupping issues). Formlabs is pretty common here. Getting more expensive. "SLA printers" is the jargon. Many resins are "model style" and brittle, like acrylic. But there are also pricier resins that are "consumer grade" and can take a beating or flex, ceramic, etc. This is what I have.
Laser sintering printers, or SLS. This allows you to print in things like Nylon. The material is basically laser-sintered together out of a powder bath. A step more expensive, but you can basically print out functional running shoes with these style printers.
Then there are metal printers (MIM, FFF, etc) by companies like Markforged, etc. These printers are again a step up in price and pretty much assume you have an industrial work garage. Some serious electricity consumption to produce these parts.
There's a lot of other 3d printers out there, and a lot of custom 3d printers for specific applications -- making jet turbines for Boeing, etc. But I ?think? the above are the main consumer-facing printers out there. I'd love to get a metal 3d printer one day, but aside from not having the space for one, I don't have the money. And I don't really have the amount of jobs ready that would justify the purchase. But it would be fun.
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