Fermat WF 13

The Fermat WF 13 is a floor-type horizontal boring and milling machine from Fermat Machinery, a Czech Republic-based machine tool manufacturer with roots in the Czechoslovak heavy machine tool industry and continued operations through successive ownership transitions into the modern era. The WF 13 designation indicates the machine's 130 mm spindle diameter — the primary specification by which horizontal boring machines are classified — placing it in the mid-heavy class of floor-type boring machines suited for large prismatic workpiece machining in sectors including energy, oil and gas, mining, heavy transportation, and large-part aerospace and defense work.

The WF 13 is built around a traditional floor-type boring machine architecture: a fixed floor plate with T-slots for workpiece fixturing, a column that travels along the X-axis, a headstock that moves vertically on the column (Y-axis), and a boring spindle that advances axially in the Z-axis. The rotary table is an optional fourth axis providing B-axis workpiece indexing for machining on multiple faces without workpiece repositioning. The spindle is a precision-ground steel unit driven through a gearbox providing multiple speed ranges to match RPM requirements from heavy rough boring to precision finishing cuts. Fermat's WF series machines are built with a cast iron structure that provides excellent vibration damping — critical for achieving good surface finish on large boring and facing operations.

The WF 13 uses a Siemens 840D sl or Heidenhain TNC control depending on customer specification — both premium European CNC platforms with strong global service networks and operator familiarity. The machine's large working range (X travel typically 3,000–5,000 mm, Y travel 2,000–3,500 mm, Z travel 1,000 mm, W spindle travel 800 mm) enables machining of workpieces that would exceed the envelope of smaller boring mills. Fermat provides specialized macro programming libraries for common large boring mill operations: large-diameter facing, line boring, angular boring, and slot milling routines that reduce programming complexity for specialized large-part machining operations.

Fermat positions the WF 13 as a value alternative to higher-priced floor-type boring mills from Parpas, TOS Varnsdorf, Wotan, and similar manufacturers. Built in Czech Republic with European engineering heritage and quality components (Siemens controls, quality spindle bearings, and hardened/ground guideways), the WF 13 delivers credible heavy-duty capability at pricing that is typically more competitive than German or Italian equivalents. Fermat has a global sales and service network with presence in Europe, Asia, and North America, supporting the machine across its long service life — floor-type boring mills are capital investments typically depreciated over 20+ years in heavy industry.