Is yours wood? If metal, you can pimp it out with a Rockler Slip Knob or a button nut, slip on and 1 or two twists and its locked. Did a review over at LJ... should bring across here. Also a video (on the slip nuts),
I had side dowels... abandoned after the 1st build.
One of my "female giftees" had the same issue as you about too many turns... so I cut the protruding threads off. Now she only has to turn about 4 times.
If your first cut is too short... Take the second cut from the longer end... LBD
