Generating footprint from gerber,drill,dxf files

[Oren_Spec]

Hey i found some partial answers to this question in the forum,

My client supply me with Gerber, drill, dxf files. I need to extract the pick and place file for THT components.
From what i understood you need a footprint to generate pick and place files, what is the
shortest way to do so? In addition to those files i might be able to ask for odb file.

Thanks for the help:)

[retiredfeline]

I don’t think you can do it from the gerbers or drill files, and to my knowledge, not from the dxf files since those have no concept of a part any more, just geometrical entities.

ODB? If you are not using KiCad then you should ask in the forum for your ECAD software.

[paulvdh]

I was mostly though writing a long answer, but the simple answer is that the data from your customer is incomplete. Those files do not even contain data on which parts are on a PCB. For that you need the placement file, and the placement file also has the locations and orientation of the parts.

It is also not really a KiCad question. Going from computer data to real manufacturing, is where KiCad ends, and specialized software for this task is used. Cam350 is a name of such software that pops up on this forum sometimes, but I have no experience with it.

@Oren_Spec

From what i understood you need a footprint to generate pick and place files, what is the
shortest way to do so?

Yes indeed, and normally that data is provided by your customer. You can recreate it in KiCad but it is a bit of a cumbersome process:

Reverse engineering KiCad project from Gerber files

The goal of this reverse-engineering tutorial is to re-create a complete KiCad project from partial information assuming the only information available is a schematic in some readable, (but not EDA form, such as a .pdf or a .png picture), and a set of gerber files. The Gerber files will create a PCB with much PCB information missing, however, using this method is easier than re-designing a PCB from scratch, and can also be extended to any other program that creates Gerber files. What is “resc…

[Oren_Spec]

Thank you all for the answers. i have asked for footprint.