Here's what I did to control outside devices from the internal 5VDC signal.
Its a Solid State Relay that controls a 115VAC outlet. I too plan to mount air jets on the bearing rails on my router to either automatically shoot a jet to clean or a 'oneshot' blast from a button added to the control screen.
I figured every so often the air solenoid would be activated (that's mounted anywhere) to supply the jets with air as they followed along with the gantry. Just need to route the small air lines so they remain out of the way.... maybe bundled with the other control wires....
The connector from the control box uses shielded wire and at present controls my dust collector.
It's not very elegant, but I whipped it together just to have the dust collector automatically come on when the router(in my case) began cutting. It can be programed to come on and off by gcode manipulation.
Hope this helps to solve your problem!
John Bloy
Shoptask rebuild:
http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2139
Home built gantry router:
http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5049