How do you make it hot and cold? I would do that to make it go mercury starved for sure but I just need a little more info on how to do it. Thanks

@Ash:
The idea is actually not   to blow the cathode, just heat it up. (ideally heat..cool..heat..cool... particularly if you can intermittently light the tube. I don't know why that makes them go mercury starved, but it does.)

And is the cathode the pins right? Planning on making one of my tubes mercury starved today somehow. This looks like the best one.

now that it has a burn mark on the end like a used tube light, will it die shorter

Yes that will shorten the life, but I don't know by how much.

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  I just need a little more info on how to do it. 

The thing I mentioned earlier where you could do it up sorta like a preheat would look like the pic attached. In this case I used a F20 so I could get a closer photo (the setup you see here if you added a 2nd set of 100 lights would actually work just fine. F20 would light as if the lights were an actual ballast. With a F32 120v is not enough voltage for it to light, so it'll just blink)

Will this make it go mercury starved? I don’t understand the hot and cold thing on how it makes it mercury starved. Would I use a hairdryer?

It will for Alto's .. I don't know about other brands.

Its the blinking created by the starter that creates the heating/cooling of the cathodes.

Ah I see. I would have to buy a starter I already have Christmas lights. Any idea where I could find one? Mainly the one I need.

It will for Alto's .. I don't know about other brands.

Its the blinking created by the starter that creates the heating/cooling of the cathodes.

Ah I see. I would have to buy a starter I already have Christmas lights. Any idea where I could find one? Mainly the one I need.

Ace hardware

Ok and do you know where I can find alto bulbs in a single pack I can’t seem to find them anywhere

Also ace hardware

I looked but they don’t have any I’ll look around. And would there be a way for me to crack open the bulb to Air poison or let mercury out of the bulb?

Also ace hardware

I looked but they don’t have any I’ll look around. And would there be a way for me to crack open the bulb to Air poison or let mercury out of the bulb?

yes tap very gently with a hammer and that will do it

Where do I tap gently? The pins or right by the pins except on the glass part

On the glass by the pins

Like this? I tested on a burned bulb. There is a crack at the bottom.

@LucasColley:
For a starter, I know both Home Depot & Lowes used to sell them (have no idea if they still do as its been a long time since I last looked for any.)
You could also get them off eBay. Just get whatever FS-2 is cheapest, doesn't really matter if its a good brand since you'll likely wear it out anyway .lol.

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And no, you wouldn't want to crack the glass like that! Once the lamp has lost vacuum, it'll never light at all. It will be very very difficult to damage it just ever so slightly as to let in a tiny amount of air, without causing a crack/vacuum loss.