We report the development of a novel device for systematic investigation of the convective assembly process, as it potentially applies to the coating of a vast nanoparticle monolayer on a flat substrate from dilute suspension. In such a process, particles assemble at, and grow from, the wedge region of the three phase contact line. Because convective assembly is driven by evaporation, the control over environmental conditions in the gas phase immediately near the assembly front is a major design consideration for any relevant experiment. Another consideration is the position of the meniscus relative to the assembly front; the coating will proceed only if the meniscus is dragged away from the assembly front in the direction of growth. Thus, the device presented here incorporates 1) a continuous dipping mechanism to remove the substrate from the coating bath at varying rates and 2) a laminar gas flow system that is maintained along the developing coating in order to impose steady, uniform, and reproducible evaporation conditions above the coating, starting at the meniscus region. We demonstrate the use of the device for coating from suspensions of pill-shaped zeolite MFI (1-3 μm), hexagonal zeolite ZSM-2 (100 nm), rod-shaped zeolite L (<10 μm), and spherical lysine-silica (Lys-Sil) particles (5-20 nm). The results have reproducible characteristics that depend on bulk particle concentration, gas flow rate, and the substrate dipping rate. Interestingly, all of the particles used for this study yielded banded coating morphologies in certain parameter regimes. We also demonstrate the existence of a parameter regime in which it is possible to continuously coat a nearly close-packed monolayer of the nanoscopic Lys-Sil spheres.